FRYEBURG — The owner of the former Saunders Brothers wood mill said Friday that she will open a furniture factory here this year, despite losing the main manufacturing plant to fire Thursday.

“I’m not going to give up. It’s a new year. People need work,” Louise Jonaitis of Portland said Friday. “I’m going to go on.”

As Jonaitis talked about plans for the mill, the State Fire Marshal’s Office continued its investigation Friday on what sparked the blaze that brought 70 firefighters from nine towns to battle the blaze at Forest Industries, as the mill was most recently named.

Senior investigator Richard Shepherd said Friday night that he, along with senior investigator Dan Young, Sgt. Joel Davis and investigator Kenny MacMaster were at the scene Friday.

“We saw some evidence,” he said, took photos and and are “pretty comfortable with what happened” but are not ready to release any information. He said an announcement could come next week after the four have time to confer on their findings.

The property is insured, Jonaitis said, and she intends to use the remaining five buildings to open another Moosehead factory this year and employ up to 15 workers. She bought the Moosehead Furniture Co. in Monson for just over $1 million in 2010.

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The year before, she bought the Fryeburg mill at an auction for $200,000 after it had closed in 2008. She put it on the market last month for $310,000, and the contents of the buildings were auctioned off two weeks ago.

Despite the loss of the building and contents, Jonaitis said she now intends to make furniture and other wooden products at the Fryeburg site on Fair Street.

Jonaitis also owns the former Saunders Brothers wood mill in Greenwood, buying it for $450,000 in 2010 after it, too, was closed. She and a partner reopened it and employ about 16 workers to primarily make rolling pins.

While Jonaitis said the fire came as a shock and interrupts her plans temporarily, she will go on.

“It’s better today than yesterday,” she said. “These obstacles only fuel more determination,” she said.

Staff Editor Mary Delamater contributed to this report.

ldixon@sunjournal.com


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