Firefighter Charged With Restaurant Fire

by E.C. Shanor
     
     MECHANIC FALLS – Fire marshals arrested a Minot firefighter for arson after the Loose Caboose Restaurant and Lounge caught fire, July 19, in Mechanic Falls.
     Androscoggin County Jail records showed Joshua Michaud, 18, of Mechanic Falls, was charged with arson, a class A felony. Shortly after being booked at the jail, he was released on posting $500 bail with the condition that he not return to the area around the restaurant and not have any incendiary devices in his possession.
     Sturtevant said that although the young man lived in Mechanic Falls, he was a member of the Minot Fire Department.
     Davis said the investigation is still under way, and he was reluctant to divulge many details. He did, say that the fire was started outside the building and the accused is a Minot Fire Department member, however, the marshals have not yet determined his motive.
     Mechanic Falls Fire and Rescue Chief Fred Sturtevant said the fire was reported shortly after 3 p.m. when an employee reporting to work saw smoke and called 911. Water supply was not a problem, nor was the extent of the fire itself, the chief said. The big enemy was the hot, humid weather that added to the heat from the fire inside the building and the physical stress.
     “When the crews went in, they used [up their bottled] air fast and it was so hot that [after] one bottle, they were exhausted. That's why we needed a lot of help,” the chief explained.
     A team of Maine Fire Marshals was on the scene before the suppression efforts had ended, gathering information and using a chemical-scenting dog to check the ruins for accelerants, as well as other techniques.
     “We had four marshals on the scene, said Fire Marshal's Sergeant Joel Davis. “They interviewed a lot of people and developed a person of interest, and he was arrested.”
     As well as the Mechanic Falls Fire Department, crews and equipment from Oxford, Otisfield, Minot, Auburn, Poland, Paris, Norway, Hebron were at the scene.
     Sergeant Davis said the firefighters did a “super job” of containing the blaze.