EAST MILLINOCKET, Maine — Jennifer Long said her husband, Jeff Long, has put his heart and soul into Pine Grove Campground & Cottages since the two purchased the 19-acre facility about 4½ years ago, but a Monday fire that damaged the site has hit her husband rather hard.
The 51-year-old former logger remodeled its four cabins, extensively re-landscaped the place, upgraded the site’s electrical wiring and plumbing, and is always “puttering around” fixing or upgrading things, Jennifer Long said.
“It is one of those places that you feel like you are home when you are at this campground. It may not be far away from people, but it is far enough away so that you can come and relax,” Long, a certified nurse’s assistant, said Monday. “This place was run down a little bit when he first got it, and he’s just made it more pleasant for everybody to come and enjoy.”
East Millinocket Fire Chief Les Brown said the accidental fire that destroyed an enclosed pavilion and a 1-year-old camper trailer at the business on Monday morning was sparked by a malfunctioning table saw motor.
“I am devastated,” Jeff Long said. “It gives me lots of flashbacks.”
East Millinocket and Medway firefighters saved a small office building at the site after they arrived shortly after the call came in about 10:20 a.m. When the first firefighters arrived, they found the pavilion burning heavily and flames having spreading well into the trailer, Brown said.
Firefighters moved to preserve the nearby office and began attacking the flames consuming the trailer. The pavilion was almost entirely gone by then.
Firefighters were at the site at 3:30 p.m. to keep the burned materials from flaring up again, Brown said.
“There is so much still smoldering there,” Brown said.
Ten East Millinocket and a half dozen Medway firefighters came to the campground, which is at 882 Grindstone Road, right on the Medway town line. No injuries were reported, Brown said.
Long was making a sign for a customer when the saw malfunctioned. He said he ran to get snow to douse the flames, but the fire had taken off by the time he returned.
The fire sparked flashbacks to a greater personal disaster for the Longs — the fiery destruction of their farmhouse in Sherman on Jan. 8, 2000, the couple said. The campsite also survived extensive flooding caused by an ice jam on the adjacent East Branch of the Penobscot River last year, he said.
“We have had better days, I am sure,” Jennifer Long said.
The Longs, whose campground is insured and who have lived in East Millinocket since 2005, are awaiting word from their insurance company before plotting their next moves.
“We are going to rebuild because our clientele is part of our family. We will do it for them as much as for ourselves,” said Jeff Long, whose business hit an all-time high of 65 percent occupancy last year and continues to grow.
“The price of gas is down, people are traveling. Word of mouth about us is traveling,” Long added. “Once they come in, we have ’em for life.”