Fire destroys island boat shop

A fast-moving fire destroyed a boat shop and all its contents Saturday morning on Vinalhaven.

The July 3 fire destroyed Mad Man Marine on the North Haven Road, Vinalhaven Fire Chief Marc Candage said Sunday morning.

The cause of the fire has not been determined but the state fire marshal has been called in because of that agency’s expertise. The fire is not considered suspicious.

The chief said he lives across the street from the marine shop and his father spotted the fire at about 8 a.m. Sixteen firefighters and three fire vehicles responded to the blaze.

The shop was 56-feet-by-32-feet with a plastic roof. The shop repairs and builds boats. The chief said a 20-foot boat that was under construction and nearly completed was destroyed in the fire.

He said the fire consumed the building and its contents quickly, noting that a business such as this has a lot of accelerants. The chief said when he arrived a quarter of the building was on fire and by the time he walked around it, half the building was burning.

There were no injuries.

The owner posted on the business’ Facebook page that he had no insurance. He stated on his page that he does not know how the fire occurred.

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