A fire that destroyed a large portion of the Bluebird Motel on Route 1 in Machias on the night of Christmas Eve was a challenging one for firefighters.
      The fire was called in about 8:40 p.m. on December 24, and about 20 firefighters from the Machias, Marshfield, East Machias, Jonesboro and Machiasport departments responded. Machias Fire Chief Joey Dennison says that one unit of the motel was fully involved when they arrived, but the fire had gotten into the attic space that was wide open, with no fire breaks. From his thermal imaging camera he could tell the temperature was over 3000 in the roof. "When it got into the attic, it just went for it."
      While firefighters wanted to divide the building in half to create a fire break to stop the blaze, he says the fire was too intense to do so. As "a last-ditch" measure they had an excavator from Old School Construction that was next door come to do a trench cut to divide the building and stop the spread of the fire.
      "It was a very difficult fire to fight," Dennison says. Hoses and air packs froze up, the area was icy and slippery and a section of the roof collapsed onto one their supply lines that was providing water from a tanker truck. "It all takes time, when you have to reset the lines," he notes.
      Dennison says that six units in the front building of the motel were totalled, and he believes the entire building will have to be destroyed, although that's not yet been determined. "The fire went from one end to the other." The motel does have two other buildings with units that are behind the one that burned, along with an office building. They suffered only some smoke damage.
      While there were no serious injuries, four people who were at the motel, including the manager, were taken to the Down East Community Hospital for smoke inhalation, and they were treated and released.
      Dennison says he was able to leave the scene at 3:42 a.m. He does not know what the cause may have been, and the fire is now under investigation by the state fire marshal's office. The motel is owned by John Simard of Mechanic Falls.