By Scott Taylor,Staff Writer

AUBURN – A fluffy pink blanket of Fiberglas insulation offered Stephen Martelli his bright spot Tuesday morning.

A Friday night fire destroyed his belongings, including his $10,000 model train collection. Engines, tankers and tracks, the collection was stored in boxes on the first floor of his apartment. The fire left none of it.

But by a fluke, two G-scale cargo cars, each about a foot long, had survived. He’d moved them to the basement while he built a custom carrying case. They were protected by a fallen piece of pink Fiberglas insulation.

“It’s a bright spot,” he said. “That’s just what you look for after something like this.”

Last Friday night, he sat in an Auburn Fire Department command vehicle and watched firefighters try to save his four-story apartment building on Gamage Avenue.

He spent a sleepless night at a friend’s New Auburn apartment and walked back to 5 Gamage Ave. early Saturday to watch the sun rise over the smoking remains.

“I thought, How am I going to get beyond this?'” he said Tuesday.

It was the first day he’d been able to return and sift through the remains, looking for salvage.

The fallen insulation protected some other things – a chain saw, a table saw and some other tools. Martelli planned to return later this week with friends to cut a path through the wreckage of his home and salvage what he could.

“I’ve got a game plan now,” he said. “I’m the kind of guy who has to have a game plan for everything. I’m already figuring what to do.”

He left the site Tuesday with the two train cars and a garbage bag full of neatly folded, frozen squares of children’s clothing that belonged to one of his tenants. They’d fallen clear of the house in a wooden dresser, where they were sprayed by the fire department’s hoses. He poked at a dresser drawer and jeans and shirts tumbled out like ice cubes from a tray.

“They can probably wash them, and they’ll be fine,” he said.

Fire inspectors Tuesday were still looking for the cause of the blaze.

“They say it started on, near or behind the wall at the floor level,” Martelli said. It began on the southern side and spread up three floors. The emergency call went out at 8:31 p.m. Friday. By 9 p.m., the fire was fully involved. By 11 p.m., part of the building had collapsed.

Martelli had put a lot of work into the building since he bought it in May 2004. He’d installed a new roof, new windows and doors and a new fire alarm system. He repainted everything and had just finished removing traces of lead from the building.

He plans to rebuild, he said. Insurance will reimburse much of his loss.

“The city says I can build a single-family home, but I’d like to see if I can build another apartment building, for two or three families,” he said.

In spite of everything, Martelli seemed more worried about his tenants than himself. He was insured, they weren’t. They have kids, he doesn’t.

Eryn Presby, his second-floor tenant, had taken four loads of laundry to her mother’s Friday night to be cleaned. That’s all that survived of her and 4-year-old son Trevor’s belongings.

Top-floor tenants Jean and Tracy Houchane lost just about everything, including the keys to their Ford Escort. Martelli spent at least part of Tuesday trying to get them a duplicate key.

He’s made arrangements to host a dinner for his tenants and neighbors at 6 p.m. Saturday night at Andy’s Baked Beans in New Auburn

“We just need something to celebrate,” he said.