Poland FD addition collapses under strong winds

Photo: Russ Dillingham, Sun Media Wire

WRECKAGE — An addition to the Poland Fire-Rescue building was destroyed early in the morning January 10 after strong winds blew out new trusses on the building.

POLAND — A shell of an 8,000 square foot, $2 million addition to the town's fire-rescue station collapsed early last Thursday morning and the project will probably need to start from scratch.

On Friday,  Poland Fire-Rescue Chief Mark Bosse said crews returning from a call around 4 a.m. heard a loud bang and went outside to find the new addition reduced to debris.

Bosse said that high winds during the night caused newly-installed trusses to collapse, taking the entire structure down.

"It was very devastating," Bosse said.

"After all the hard work and effort we've gone through to get to the point to have construction go on, to go out there and see all the work that had been done the day before in pieces, it's a real kick in the teeth."

No one was hurt, but the building is probably a total loss, Bosse said.

On Friday, crews were busy clearing up the wreckage, and Bosse said new trusses had been ordered and were due to arrive January 21.

He anticipated there would be about a three-week delay on the project, but the town would not incur any additional cost.

Bosse said he had no concerns about the quality of work done by Saco-based PM Construction, the contractor building the addition.

Despite the setback, the fire department is remaining upbeat and looks forward to continuing the project, Bosse said.

"We're not going to gloom and doom over the whole thing ... we'll adapt and overcome and we're moving forward."