LEWISTON — Crews from Chabot Construction of Greene should be at the Cowan Mill site Tuesday morning, awaiting a judge’s order before they begin tearing down the remaining brick walls.

“Right now, that building is a life-safety issue,” said Norm Beauparlant, the city’s budget and purchasing director. “Our goal will be to get rid of the safety issue.”

Acting City Administrator Phil Nadeau said that no contract had been signed with Chabot as of Monday night. He expected the final contract would be settled Tuesday morning.

City officials have scheduled a hearing for 11 a.m. on Tuesday in
Androscoggin County Superior Court, seeking a legal order to demolish
the building. Chabot’s crews will be ready to go as soon as that order is signed.

But clearing the site and removing the remaining bricks will have to wait, he said.

“The first phase will take a couple of days to a week to accomplish, and that’s knocking down the remaining structure,” he said. “The second phase will be much more expensive and take much longer to accomplish. That involves cleaning that site, and we haven’t even crossed that bridge yet.”

Investigators from the Maine State Police, the federal Bureau of
Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and Lewiston Police have
declared the fire an act of arson. No arrest has been made.

The fire began just after 4 p.m. Wednesday and consumed the
159-year-old mill in a matter of hours. All that remains are
several stories of brick walls and the smokestack

Beauparlant said the demolition crews will begin tearing down the outer walls first, pushing them toward the center of the building. Next, they’ll begin working on the building’s smokestack.

Finally, they plan to move heavy equipment toward the center and pull the walls facing the river back onto the site.

The project is estimated to cost less than $80,000. Beauparlant said he expects negotiations to continue into Tuesday morning.

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