For info box:

• Lisbon Street, from Pine to Ash streets, will likely remain closed until at least the start of the new year.

• The Centerville Parking Garage on Canal Street will also be closed until the danger of falling debris is gone.

Box

The city of Lewiston had assessed the four buildings at:

Greely building (formerly Marco’s): $72,000

Cressey Building: $22,350

Kora Temple: $41,500

New England Furniture: $154,550

By the numbers

7: Number of towns that sent assistance on the night of the fire

100: Number of firefighters at the scene that Tuesday night

16: Number of fire trucks at the fire

19 to 32: Temperature range firefighters fought the fire in

100s of 1,000s: Gallons of water used to fight the fire

Source: Estimates by Lewiston Fire Chief Paul LeClair

Going down
Three or four buildings damaged in Tuesday fire to be demolished

LEWISTON – The Lewiston City Council on Friday authorized the demolition of four downtown buildings, either destroyed or weakened by Tuesday night’s fire.

The council’s unanimous decision during an 8 a.m. emergency session found all four Lisbon Street buildings – the Greely, Cressey, Kora Temple and New England Furniture buildings – to be unstable and unsafe.

Their brick facades could tumble onto the downtown street at any time, potentially taking the front of the New England Furniture building with it, Code Enforcement Officer Tom Maynard told council members.

A collapse would be catastrophic.

“It could blow out anything in the first floor across the street,” Maynard said. “It would destroy any cars on the street.”

Officials have worried about a collapse of the buildings since the first moments of the fire, which began about 10:15 p.m. Tuesday.

About 15 minutes later, firefighters were ordered out of the old buildings. Both the Cressey and Kora Temple buildings soon experienced a pancaking of their floors, the same fire effect described after the attack at the World Trade Center in New York City in 2001.

Floors collapsed onto floors, which led to further collapses, Maynard told the council.

As a result, only the brick shells of the Cressey and Kora Temple buildings remain. Their insides – from what could be seen by inspectors from the furniture building – were heaps of rubble in the basement.

No one, including police investigators, has been allowed in either building. The Greely building has also been barred from entry, and few people have been allowed inside the furniture building. That one was less damaged by the fire, but shares a wall with the Kora Temple.

“There is no way of predicting a collapse,” Fire Chief Paul Leclair said. “We’ll never be able to establish stability. Those buildings, in my opinion, should be torn down.”

Comments by Leclair, Maynard and others were collected by councilors Friday morning in trial fashion. Attorney Martin Eisenstein, working for the city, questioned each expert, portraying an image of the precariousness of the four large buildings.

“There’s nothing holding onto them,” Lewiston Building Inspector Gary Campbell said.

The four buildings are so interconnected, a demolition expert from Maine Metal Recycling said his company would refuse to raze the three charred buildings unless the furniture building is demolished, too. It would be too unsafe for workers, said David Murphy, who runs the Auburn business.

If the furniture building can be strengthened, it will, said City Administrator James Bennett.

It may be tough, though. Smoke and water damaged the interior. The shared wall with the Kora Temple was cracked by the intense heat, Campbell said.

An insurance adjuster for the furniture building’s owner – developer Tom Platz’s Tim Corp. – examined the building Friday morning under a firefighter escort.

The city’s assessed value of the building is $154,550. Of the four affected buildings, its value is estimated to be the highest.

The city values the Kora Temple at $41,500, the Cressey Building at $22,350 and the Greely Building at $72,900. All three are owned by Greely Capital LLC.

The Greely building, known as the former Marco’s Restaurant, had been damaged by a fire in July 2004 and was undergoing remodeling, Campbell said.

The destruction of the buildings will begin no later than next week, Bennett said. He expected the nearby section of Lisbon Street, from Pine to Ash streets to be closed until at least the start of the new year. The Centerville Parking Garage on Canal Street will also remain closed until the the danger of falling debris is gone, he said.