NORWAY — Fire destroyed the Oxford Pine Products at 24 Marston Street early this morning.
No one was injured, but the structure is considered a total loss, said owner Tim Paul. Paul said he was unable to afford insurance on the building this year, after 33 years in business.
It took several hours for fire crews from eight towns, including about 50 firefighters and ladder trucks from Oxford, Paris and Mechanic Falls, to get the fire under control, said Norway Fire Chief Dennis Yates. Yates said an inspector from the State Fire Marshal’s office has determined the fire, which was called in about 4 a.m., was electrical starting on the first floor.
School at the adjacent Rowe Elementary School was shut down for the day because of the danger from the fire and equipment in and around the school’s parking lot, said Yates.
The business had two employees including Paul, but at one time had employed several dozen employees. They have been in business since the mid 1970s making wood products including books cases, dressers, clothes rack and much more. A few items were salvaged from the fire later in the morning.
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- The former snowshoe factory that housed Oxford Pine Products at 24 Marston St. in Norway smolders after fire gutted it Tuesday morning. The call came in just after 4 a.m. at the furniture and wood products manufacturing business.
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- Police tape and spray-painted signs reading “Keep Out” surround the burned-out Oxford Pine Products factory on Marston Street in Norway on Tuesday. The fire at the former snowshoe factory was reported at about 4 a.m.
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