June 16--CARIBOU, Maine -- A building acquired by the city was destroyed Sunday afternoon by a fire that has been deemed suspicious, officials said Monday.
The fire at 111 Water St. was reported just before 5 p.m., when a citizen stopped into the Caribou Fire Department station to report the smell of smoke, Capt. Mike McCarthy said Monday afternoon.
Twenty-one firefighters from the department spent more than five hours working to extinguish the blaze, according to McCarthy. He said the building was quickly deemed unsafe to enter, so firefighters had to attack the fire from the outside.
"There was lots of heavy damage to [the building]," he said. "It was a total loss. We received mutual aid from the Presque Isle Fire Department, who covered the station for us."
The captain said the fire is being investigated because the two-story building, which once housed a thrift store, was abandoned, and there was no electricity running to it.
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