Alpine Title Services building saved by quick response

By David Carkhuff

By a matter of five or 10 minutes Sunday, Conway firefighters prevented a fire from erupting and possibly engulfing the historic Alpine Title Services building at the corner of Pleasant Street and Route 16 in Conway Village."They did an absolutely wonderful job," building owner Vicki Weegar said Tuesday. "The fire department did a great job, and they kept it to a minimum."Conway Fire Chief Larry Wade said the cause of the fire appeared to be accidental and was traced to a BMW motorcycle that was left running in the historic dairy barn. Exact cause of the fire is unknown.Alpine Title Services as well as the Law Office of Matthew Weegar are located in the building complex, known as the former Shumway Marshall property. The old dairy barn is attached to a historic house, with room in between for storage, Vicki Weegar said. The house is used for offices, she said.A fire alarm installed shortly after Vicki Weegar bought the building in August 2004, coupled with the quick response of fire crews, probably prevented the fire from causing more severe and possibly devastating damage. "Probably another four or five minutes the barn would have been consumed with fire. A quick response from the firefighters really saved that," Wade said, crediting his mostly volunteer department.Vicki Weegar praised the firefighters as well, crediting them with limiting the fire to a small section of the old barn.Wade said fire damage was contained to the barn's first and second floor, the southeast wall and part of the roof."Structurally there's nothing wrong with the building," he said.Matthew Weegar, Vicki's husband, was warming up a BMW motorcycle in the barn, which is used as a garage, Wade said."He started the motorcycle and went into the business portion to continue doing some work in the business portion of the building," Wade said.The automatic fire alarm system, mandated as part of the fire codes, started going off, Wade said. Matthew Weegar went to check on the alarm and found the motorcycle on fire and smoke filling the barn, he said. Matthew Weegar rushed back into the business offices to call firefighters and tell them it wasn't a false alarm. But firefighters already were arriving, reaching the scene within a minute, Wade estimated."By having the automatic fire alarm, the fire was detected very quickly," Wade said. "Had that automatic fire alarm not been installed, we could have very easily had a fire burning for five minutes or 10 minutes before the owner had noticed, which would have caused substantial damage."The fire extended from the first floor up to the second floor and started burning under the roof. Bottled up under the eaves, the fire started banking or backing up into open space, including the storage areas between the barn and house, Wade said. Firefighters cut holes in the roof and broke windows to release the heat and smoke, he said."Through ventilating the building and exiting the fire fairly quickly, we prevented that from extending into the main portion of the building," Wade said.Wade described the old barn as a post-and-beam structure with a second floor that used to be a hay loft. Both floors, while used for storage, also contained vehicles, including a 1976 Monte Carlo, which sustained paint damage, and a Jeep, he said.Old tin milk cans and glass bottles from the dairy were among the items stored in the building, he said.One firefighter sustained second-degree burn injuries, when hot material fell on the firefighter while crews battled the fire inside, Wade said. The firefighter was treated and released at The Memorial Hospital.Vicki Weegar said insurance adjusters have visited the site, but she was unsure of the extent of damage.Local history indicated the building was built by the Abbott-Eastman family and dates to the mid-1800s.The 1:15 p.m. fire prompted Conway Police Department to help with traffic control, and North Conway Fire Department assisted. Conway Ambulance also responded.The offices in the building were back open for business on Monday.Wade said Conway Fire Department has been busy, with 60 calls as of Jan. 17.Assistant Editor David Carkhuff can be contacted at david@conwaydailysun.com.