At about 2 a.m., the Bradford Police Department got notice of a burglary alarm going off at the market. When an officer pulled onto East Main Street, he called into dispatch for help from the fire department.
"He didn't know what was burning," Fire Chief Mark Goldberg said. "He didn't know it was Bowie's. He just knew the street was full of smoke."
The cause of the fire isn't considered suspicious, he said.
Bradford firefighters responded to the call just after 2:30 a.m. and immediately called in a second and third alarm. Goldberg said by the time he got there, about two-thirds of the roof had collapsed.
Firefighters from Bradford, Henniker, Hillsboro, Hopkinton, Newbury, Sutton, Warner and Washington performed a "defensive attack" on the fire, working to control the building from the outside, and they used Hopkinton's ladder truck to fight the fire from above.
They also worked to keep grill-sized propane tanks and other larger tanks that were lined up along the side of the building cool.
About 60 firefighters were on the scene. Although they had to bear cold temperatures, no one was injured while fighting the fire and no one was in the building when it started, Goldberg said. Firefighters cleared the scene at about 5:30 a.m.
Bruce Bowie, who owns the market with his wife, Chris, declined to comment yesterday afternoon. The Bowies do not own the building itself. They rent it from a property owner who lives out of state.
Goldberg said the building is likely a total loss.
Yesterday afternoon, the cinderblock walls were still standing, but the roof had almost completely caved in, and everything visible from the broken storefront windows was charred and covered with ice and snow.
The market sold gasoline, limited groceries and fresh meat. The Bowies have run the market for about six years, said Marion Deroche, a friend who works at Merrimack Farm and Country Store across the street. Deroche said the building has long been a focal point in town.
Before the Bowies rented the building, it was a garage and gas station. The last tenants kept the gas pumps but got rid of the auto repair shop. Deroche said Bowie's Market was the only place in town to buy fresh pork chops, beef, chicken or whatever else she needed to pick up for dinner.
A neighbor who watched the fire from across the street said there were probably about 75 regular customers who couldn't get their cup of coffee from the market yesterday morning.
"It's just a sad day for a lot of people," Deroche said.
