By Dominik Lobkowicz
Investigators from the State Fire Marshal’s Office were at the scene of a fire at Pinkham’s Auto Repair & Tires the morning of April 24. (D. Lobkowicz photo) |
Updated April 24 at 9:00 p.m.
The body of a man found in the basement of Pinkham’s Auto Repair & Tires in Waldoboro after a fire April 24 has been taken to the State Medical Examiner’s Office in Augusta for an autopsy and identification, according to a press release from the State Fire Marshal’s Office.
Meanwhile, the business’s owner, Jeff Pinkham, is missing and his truck was parked inside the garage at the time of the fire, according to the release.
Waldoboro Fire Chief Paul Smeltzer confirmed just before noon April 24 that a body was found.
“We have found a body,” Smeltzer told The Lincoln County News. “We do not have the identity of that body as of yet.”
Earlier in the day, a number of area fire departments worked to contain a fire at the garage as the blaze damaged the building and a GMC Sierra pickup parked inside it.
Waldoboro Fire Chief Paul Smeltzer (left) speaks into his radio as firefighters work to extinguish a fire at Pinkham’s Auto Repair & Tires on Route 1 in Waldoboro. (D. Lobkowicz photo) |
Recovery of the remains and the investigators’ work were delayed due to a cave-in of the building’s floor and the need to have contaminants pumped out of the basement, officials said.
By around 4 p.m., the remains had been removed and an excavator was being used to tear down the structure.
The autopsy and identification of the remains may not be completed until the week of April 27, according to the release from the fire marshal’s office.
According to Smeltzer, heavy, black smoke was showing when he first arrived at the scene at 1376 Atlantic Highway.
“The fire was initially hard to knock down because it was in the [work] pit below a cement floor,” Smeltzer said.
The pickup parked over the pit received significant smoke and heat damage, Smeltzer said. “I’m sure it’s totaled,” he said.
The fire spread up the side of the building into the office, and up into the roof, Smeltzer said
Firefighters pull sheets of siding off the front of Pinkham’s Auto Repair & Tires, exposing the flames behind. (D. Lobkowicz photo) |
Firefighters peeled sheets of siding off the building in their attempts to get at lingering flames.
The Waldoboro, Bremen, Jefferson, Nobleboro, Warren, and Washington fire departments responded to the fire, along with Waldoboro Emergency Medical Services. The Bristol Fire Department provided station coverage for Bremen and the Somerville Fire Department stood by at its station to provide coverage for Jefferson.
Lincoln County Communications paged the Waldoboro Fire Department at 5:07 a.m.
