BETHEL – Since Wednesday night’s small fire in the three-story laser tag maze, Big Adventure Center employees have been vacuuming water out of carpeting on the first and second floors.
Manager Eric List said that he and staff would have the amusement center at 12 North Road ready for business by Saturday morning.
“The biggest damage is from the sprinkler system, because it ran for a lengthy time” and dumped “a few hundred gallons of water” on floors and walls, he said.
List said that the fire at about 6:25 p.m. Wednesday was caused by an equipment malfunction with a fog-making machine.
“Our fire alarm system and sprinkler system worked flawlessly, and contained the fire,” List said.
He credited staff member Yves Baribeau’s immediate response with a 5-pound fire extinguisher for putting out the fire. List also praised Bethel firefighters, police and ambulance personnel for their “prompt, professional response.”
“They arrived very quickly and managed to ventilate the building, ensure that the fire was extinguished, and shut down the sprinkler system. They did a great job,” List said of firefighters.
Assistant Fire Chief Mike Jodrey said Wednesday night that firefighters had a difficult time working through the smoky maze in the dark to locate the spot.
But List disagreed Thursday afternoon with Jodrey’s opinion that, “This place is meant to be a maze that you get lost in,” which Jodrey and three other fully outfitted firefighters did in zero visibility while trying to reach the spot.
“It’s designed to have places for people to hide in to play laser tag. Not one of them had asked us for directions,” List said of firemen.
Big Adventure staff were also not allowed back in the building to direct firefighters to the section where the fire occurred, he said.
“Because of the smoke, we were told very clearly to stay out of the building,” List said.
As for any future fire safety changes to be made, Bethel Chief Jim Young said Thursday that Maine’s fire marshall had inspected the facility and maze before it opened, and approved everything.
Young said that lights would have been helpful to have in place to enable firefighters to better see where they had to go.
List said that because of the way the maze is laid out, lights could be added.
Comments are no longer available on this story