Landmark business standing but badly damage after blaze

Belfast’s Goose River Grocery gutted in Tuesday night fire

Wed, 07/16/2014 - 8:45am

Story Location:
77 Swan Lake Avenue
Belfast, ME 04915
United States

    BELFAST - A fire on Tuesday night caused significant damage to the interior of Goose River Grocery on Swan Lake Avenue. As of Wednesday morning, the exterior and roof of the East Side fixture remained intact, but the windows were blackened and the door was boarded up.

    Belfast Fire Chief Jim Richards the fire was reported at around 9 p.m. The store had closed around 8:30 p.m., and no one was in the building at the time, he said, but by the time firefighters got there, he believed it had been burning for a while.

    “A lot of heat had built up by the time we got there,” he said.

    Richards said flames were coming from one window, but otherwise the fire was contained to the interior of the building. He described the damage inside from heat and smoke as “intense.”

    As of Wednesday morning, the cause of the fire was officially unknown, but Richards said the amount of damage toward the rear of the building suggested it may have started in the kitchen.

    An investigator from the state Fire Marshal’s Office was scheduled to look at the building later that morning to determine the cause, Richards said.


    Ethan Andrews can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com