BOWDOIN

A Bowdoin family’s garage was leveled by an afternoon fire Tuesday that destroyed a ’75 Volkswagen Beetle and other irreplaceable sentimental items.

The garage at 77 Robert’s Road belongs to Paul and Melody Babbidge. While the garage is a total loss, no one was hurt in the fire that was reported at 3:12 p.m.

Melody Babbidge was at the grocery store when she got a call from her daughter that the two-story garage was on fire. She paid for the groceries already in her cart and drove home to find smoking debris and firefighters working to ensure the fire was out. Fire trucks and volunteer firefighter vehicles lined Roberts Road.

Babbidge said her husband is a land surveyor and lost all of his survey records. She had her wedding dress, her bouquet, wedding knife and cup along with her children’s first baby outfits that where were stored overhead in the garage. A 1975 Volkswagen Beetle she’s had for about 20 years was in the garage and also was destroyed.

The house was shut up because the air conditioner was on inside, which kept the smoke out, Babbidge said, so the house is OK, though one of the picture windows was left with a spider web of cracks and will need to be replaced. Some of the siding on the house nearest the garage melted. Her husband’s Subaru parked near the garage was destroyed as was an older Volvo on the other side of the garage. A pool behind the structure melted as well.

Bowdoinham Fire Chief Arthur Frizzle was one of the first three firefighters on scene. The first obstacle was limited manpower during initial attack of the fullyinvolved fire that had already caused the roof and second floor to collapse. They wouldn’t be able to save the garage at that point, Frizzle said, so concentrated on protecting the other buildings and vehicles around the blaze. They had to be wary as well of power lines in close proximity to the garage but were able to control the fire before it damaged overhead wires though a cable line was damaged.

Bowdoinham and Richmond fire departments responded, and manpower arrived quickly through mutual aid from Topsham and Lisbon. Lisbon Fire Chief Sean Galipeau took over command. There was an initial report of possible propane tanks. Crews heard some popping sounds and did find several small propane tanks in the back of the building. Tires on the cars popped and — with tires on rims near the front of the garage, lead acid vehicle batteries, kerosene fuel tanks, lawnmowers and other power equipment — there were a significant amount of petroleum products to fuel the fire.

“Thankfully it worked out very well,” Frizzle said, as firefighters were able to save surrounding property.

An excavator was on scene pulling out heavy debris and assisting firefighters in making sure any hot spots were out. He didn’t clear the scene until about 8:30 p.m.

Babbidge’s two daughters, son and daughters’ boyfriend where home when the fire broke out. Her daughter, Gracia

Babbidge, was getting ready for work when she heard her sister say that something was burning in the garage and told her to call 911. The garage all of a sudden went up in flames and burned quickly. Gracia Babbidge’s bedroom is in the building located behind the garage and nearly caught fire as well. No one had been in the garage Tuesday, so the family didn’t know what could have started the fire.

Melody Babbidge said she has insurance on the buildings.

Bowdoin, Lisbon, Topsham, Bowdoinham and Richmond fire department personnel were among crews on scene working to extinguish the flames. State fire marshal investigators were on scene as well.

Sgt. Joel Davis with the fire marshal’s office said this morning the cause of the fire is undertermined due to the extent of damage, but investigators believe the fire started inside near the front of the garage where there were a lot of eletrcial items and other items that could have started the fire.

dmoore@timesrecord.com