March 29, 2024
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Levant fire destroys auto repair shop

LEVANT – Watching seven fire departments try to put out a fire Sunday that devoured his 3-week-old automotive repair business was too much for co-owner Robbie Potter.

The Levant man, 36, collapsed and was taken to a Bangor hospital for treatment. He was soon released, but said afterward, “It’s the most devastating thing I’ve ever experienced.”

The Route 222 shop, A-1 Transmission and Automotive Repair, opened Sept. 26, when the five-bay garage was about 95 percent complete. Potter said he and partner Jeremy Pomeroy, 25, of Carmel had invested $250,000 in the business but were uninsured.

Across the road from 3341 Union St., Rella Armstrong returned home from a University of Maine hockey game around 11:30 p.m. Saturday and noted nothing unusual. Then she heard two loud banging sounds just before midnight, Armstrong said.

Thinking someone had hit a deer, as is common in the area, she expected someone to knock on her door, but moments later she heard the sound of sirens and noticed the flames.

Scott Pelkey, a security guard with Penobscot Job Corps in Bangor, was on his way home when he spotted the flames and drove to the Levant fire station for help, Sgt. Keith Mercier of the Penobscot County Sheriff’s Department said.

The call for firefighters from Levant, Hermon, Glenburn, Bangor, Carmel, Stetson and Kenduskeag came at midnight, and when officials arrived, the building was in flames, Levant Assistant Fire Chief Nate Perry said.

The building’s contents were considered a total loss.

The fire is under investigation by the State Fire Marshal’s Office, Perry said. The investigator could not be reached Sunday.

More than $100,000 in equipment was inside the building. The tools of the company’s three employees were also destroyed, Pomeroy said. Also inside were three customer vehicles and transmissions and parts to eight more vehicles.

Potter said he and Pomeroy had built the $150,000 building by working 12 hours a day, seven days a week for three months.

“We got quotes for insurance on Friday and were told to call back Tuesday, because of the holiday, to give a down payment and sign,” Pomeroy said. “Another 48 hours and we would have been more than covered.”

The thumps that Armstrong heard could have been a gas tank on one of the three cars inside exploding along with a pair of propane tanks, Potter said.

Despite not having insurance, Potter and Pomeroy intend to begin rebuilding as soon as the investigation is completed, Potter said.

The pair had received numerous offers of help from the community by Sunday afternoon and hope that, with additional aid, they can reopen by next spring.


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