YORK HARBOR - One month after the first of two suspicious fires struck the Stage Neck Inn, investigators continue to explore leads and conduct interviews.
Maine Public Safety Spokesman Steve McCausland confirmed earlier this week that the case remains under investigation, but that no new information is available.
The Maine Fire Marshal's Office ruled that the two fires, which severely damaged the inn on Jan. 17 and 30, were intentionally set. The damage to the building and the loss of revenue has been estimated at as much as $5 million dollars.
Reached by telephone on Feb. 19, York Police Chief Douglas Bracy said interviews continue and the investigation is ongoing. Investigators from the York Police Department, York Fire Department, Portland office of the Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Maine Fire Marshal are working on the case.
The first blaze began in the early evening hours of Jan. 17 and it was determined the fire originated outside the building before extending into an area of function rooms and a section of the attic.
The Jan. 30 blaze damaged guest quarters at the inn, which had been scheduled to reopen from its annual maintenance shutdown at the time the first blaze broke out.
Bracy confirmed that a fire call on Feb. 17 to the Lobster Barn on Route 1, involving a patron who had set off a fire extinguisher and forced the evacuation of the restaurant, is not related to the Stage Neck case.
Anyone with information about the Stage Neck Inn fires is asked to call the York Police Department at 363-4444.
