LEWISTON – James Howaniec left his Lisbon Street law office late Tuesday night. After a few hours of sleep, he got up at dawn to read the paper before going back to work.

“I read about the fire on the front page of the Sun Journal,” he said. “I said, ‘wait a minute. I was just down there a few hours ago.'”

What Howeniec missed while sleeping was a blaze that took most of two days to fight. Even with the flames mostly under control, it was still chaos around his office at 145 Lisbon St., next to one of the three buildings – from 149 to 177 Lisbon – that burned.

“I went in Wednesday morning and it was like nuclear winter out there. There was soot everywhere,” he said. “I pleaded with a firefighter to let me in to get at my files. The halls were all filled up with smoke. I was searching through my files with the light from my cell phone.”

Like other businesses on Lisbon Street near Main, Howaniec’s office was without power and electricity for a good part of Wednesday afternoon. Such a state of affairs rises above inconvenience when you’re a lawyer with more than 200 clients trying to get their affairs in order before the holidays.

“People need to get through to their lawyers, and they get frustrated when they can’t,” Howaniec said. “It’s frustrating. It’s hard to run a law office that way.”

The lawyer said he mostly feels bad for his clients trying to work out often emotionally difficult legal problems. Some are trying to work through court issues so they can have visitations with their children for Christmas. At least one client canceled an appointment because he did not want to deal with the mess on lower Lisbon Street, Howaniec said.

A flower shop, a frame supply store, a fast food restaurant and several business offices have also been enduring hardships because of their proximity to the burned building. While those buildings were not directly damaged by the flames, smoke and water, the disruption in the downtown has wreaked havoc.

“This is our livelihoods,” Howaniec said. “Being shut down for even a day can have a big impact. It has a significant economic impact, not to mention the way it backs everything up.”

After a day and a half, Howaniec’s office had electrical power and phone service again. He’s back in business and trying to get used to the heavy smell of smoke and the nonstop activity outside. If nothing else, the lawyer said he has a new appreciation for the relative peace of his office before the fire caused chaos.

“You see fires like this on television and you’re sort of disconnected from it,” he said. “When it happens close to home, it really hits hard.”