Shoshanna Zuboff was wrapping brownies for her son in the kitchen of her Nobleboro home late Thursday night when a bolt of lightning struck the window frame just inches away. In a matter of hours, the family home, its memories, its life was leveled to the ground.
“It was an enormous sound,” Zuboff said, describing how sparks flew around the kitchen in which she stood. “Everything just exploded.”
Nobleboro Fire Chief Mike Martin said the sparks most likely entered the house electrical system and traveled the length of wires throughout the home.
According to Sgt. Ken Grimes of the Maine Fire Marshal’s Office, lightning will go anywhere in a house. He said there were a number of lighting strikes that same night, and added that lightning will take the path of least resistance to get to ground.
“People forget how powerful nature can be,” Grimes said.
On reflection, Zuboff realized she had a near-death experience with a lightning bolt striking just inches away from her, but said she was not thinking about that at the time. She said she was focused on getting her husband, Jim Maxmin, their daughter, Chloe and the family dog, Pachi, out of the house safely.
“She (Pachi) was shaking so much, and pretty soon I was shaking too,” Zuboff said.
The family was forced out of the home by a fire that spread quickly and had to watch it burn as they stood out in the storm.
Smoke and flames were visible when firefighters arrived at the Morang Cove Rd. residence, shortly after the 11:40 p.m. call to 911 emergency on July 2, according to Chief Martin.
“Within minutes after we arrived, the building was engulfed,” Martin said, indicating the fire spread very quickly through the house. The house, estimated to be about 5000 square feet and valued at just less than $1.5 million, burned to the ground.
Martin said no one was injured in the fire; however, a firefighter from Edgecomb sustained what has been reported to be serious injuries in an automobile accident en route to the scene. Firefighters from 12 towns spent 13 hours on scene, battling the blaze and putting out hot spots. They later bulldozed the chimney, in order to further extinguish still-burning material.
“There were a lot of overhaul and hot spots to take care of,” Martin said, adding that crews worked with an excavator to dig up areas still burning beneath the surface of the rubble.
An estimated 75 firefighters from towns including Nobleboro, Jefferson Bremen, Waldoboro, Damariscotta, Newcastle, Bristol, Boothbay, Edgecomb, Washington and Warren arrived on scene to assist in extinguishing the blaze. According to Chief Martin, they cleared the area around 1:30 Friday afternoon.
In response to a question about how the family is dealing with the outcome from such a tragedy, Jim Maxmin said they are coping.
“It was hugely traumatic,” he said.
Their son, Jake, was away on a canoe trip in the Allagash and later heard about the fire. He has joined the rest of his family, who are staying at a friend’s house in Bremen.
A giant hole is all that remains of their family home. Maxmin estimated his family lost close to 10,000 books, not to mention all of their materials gathered since undergraduate years in college. The two adults hold doctorate degrees in social science and write regularly.
They wrote the book, “The Support Economy” together in 2002, which is published world-wide. Maxmin said they travel to various locations around the world to speak about the future of capitalism and the individual.
Zuboff writes regularly for Business Week online. She said they had a second edition of “The Support Economy” half finished and an article on their computer hard drive ready to submit, all of which was lost in the fire.
“Everybody’s lost everything but we’re all safe,” Maxmin said, adding that he was still wearing shoes given to him from the excavator at the scene.
He said the rest of their farm was untouched by the blaze. The family raises fallow deer for venison and son Jake, 14, raises chickens for their eggs.
“We just want to say thank you,” Maxmin said. “We really appreciate all of the support.”
The family is coping with identification paperwork, such as birth certificates and passports, all of which they have to apply for over again. Maxmin said they are looking for a place to rent, even though several people have opened up their homes to the family.
“We were offered more homes to stay in,” he said. “It’s a wonderful community.”
Maxmin said he plans to meet with a builder and foundation expert to see how they can rebuild on the same site. The couple both said their children want to continue to live on the farm and bring their families there in future years. They said Jake is about to start high school at Lincoln Academy and Chloe will start her senior year there this fall.
“We’re putting our life back together, day by day,” Zuboff said, commenting on their efforts to rebuild and remake what was lost, starting a new life. “It was our home, our school, our everything.”
(Paula Roberts contributed to this report.)
