LITCHFIELD – A marine business was destroyed by fire early Monday.

Firefighters were called to Nadeau’s Marine on Route 126 at 2:19 a.m. with a report of heavy smoke in the building.

Flames appeared shortly after their arrival at the single-story, 7-year-old wooden commercial building that housed a sales and repair shop, said Sgt. Kenneth Grimes, an investigator at Maine’s Office of the State Fire Marshal in Augusta.

No injuries were reported.

The blaze left only one wall standing, Grimes said. It appeared to start in the area of the heating boiler near the store and is believed to be accidental, Grimes said. He said his office could not rule out malfunction of the oil burner as the cause.

Owner Larry Nadeau had insured the property. He said Monday the policy would only cover about half the $1 million loss he suffered.

He had three new boats in the building. An insurance adjuster is flying in from Ohio to estimate the value of the loss.

Nadeau hopes to start building after clean up, which is likely to take about three days, he said.

He also hopes to put his six employees, who lost all of their tools in the blaze, back to work, he said.

Nadeau said firefighters appeared to take a long time before starting to douse the flames, but Litchfield fire Chief Stan Labbe said crews had to run 4-inch hose about a half mile up the road. A fire pond behind the building was too close to the blaze to use for filling trucks, he said.

Fire crews responding to assist Litchfield Volunteer Fire Department included Gardiner, Monmouth, Wales and West Gardiner. Richmond covered the Litchfield station.


Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.

Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.