Firefighters climb onto the roof of the building at 258 Jefferson St. in Waldoboro on Sunday, Nov. 17 to extinguish a structure fire. Waldoboro Fire Chief Paul Smeltzer said the cause of the fire is unknown, but is being investigated by the Office of Maine State Fire Marshal. (Johnathan Riley photo)
A building that was home to the Movie and Pizza Shoppe, a beloved former business in downtown Waldoboro, was damaged in a fire on Sunday, Nov. 17.
While the fire caused damage to the second level of the building at 258 Jefferson St. and burned portions of the land surrounding it, firefighters were able to prevent the blaze from spreading to neighboring buildings, according to Waldoboro Fire Chief Paul Smeltzer. There were no injuries and no one was in the building when the fire started.
“I’m extremely proud of the work the firefighters did, the structure is still standing but the damage inside is significant,” he said.
The cause of the fire and its origin remain unknown and are currently under investigation by the Office of the State Fire Marshal, according to Smeltzer.
The Lincoln County Communications Center initially paged the Waldoboro Fire Department at 7:59 p.m. for a report of a small brush fire outside the building, at 258 Jefferson St. Shortly thereafter, the Damariscotta, Bremen, Jefferson, Friendship, Warren, and Nobleboro fire departments were paged to provide mutual aid at the scene, where the blaze was confirmed as a structure fire.
Firefighters and officers from the Waldoboro Police Department initially used fire extinguishers to keep the blaze on the ground around the southeastern end of the building from heading toward the propane tanks at 902 Main St. when they arrived on scene, Smeltzer said.
“We just kept trying to knock it down as best we could,” he said.
The fire traveled from the ground along the cedar-shingled exterior of the building and caught in the eaves. Putting out the fire on the second level presented challenges, according to Smeltzer.
“All of us were very familiar with the downstairs of the building; very small numbers of people knew how to access the upstairs, so we didn’t know the layout,” he said.
The fire was contained to the second floor of the building, and the first floor sustained water damage from firefighting efforts, according to Smeltzer.
Other responding agencies included Central Maine Power Co., Waldoboro EMS, Waldoboro Police Department, and Central Lincoln County Ambulance Service.
Responders cleared the scene around 1 a.m., according to Smeltzer.
The founded in 1987 by the late Randy Raymond, the Movie Pizza Shoppe offered movie rentals, pizza, sandwiches, and ice cream. The business was recognized in Down East Magazine as one of the top pizza establishments in Maine, according to Raymond’s obituary.
Bill Maxwell, a close friend of Raymond’s, said both Raymond and his shop were an integral part of the Waldoboro community.
“He loved the community, he loved the people that came to his shop,” Maxwell said.
Raymond’s other friends would go to the business just to talk to him over a cup of coffee, according to Maxwell.
“It wasn’t a hangout coffee shop, but a lot of his friends turned it into that, myself and a few others,” he said. “(Raymond) always made sure to have fresh coffee for his friends while they leaned on the counter to talk to him.”
Raymond took great pride in the look of his business, according to Maxwell, filling the flower boxes and decorating for the holidays.
Randy always put in the effort to make the downtown look good,” he said.
Maxwell, a Little League baseball coach for many years, and other coaches brought their teams to Raymond’s store to get the players ice cream or pizza if the occasion called for it.
“Just like any other Little League team, you went to Randy for ice cream, and 95% of team parties were pizza from Randy,” he said. “He was a big community person.”
Raymond’s business closed after his death in early 2015.
