EUSTIS – Fire destroyed a popular restaurant’s kitchen and ell early this morning, but the 100-year-old main house which faces Route 27 was saved by firefighters.
Fire tore through The Porter House Restaurant’s kitchen and ell, which owned by chef Brian Anderson and is known for its upscale menu and country charm of the restored farmhouse. Anderson had closed the restaurant at 9:45 p.m. after a dinner service Saturday night. No one was at the restaurant when the fire started.
About 40 firefighters from the mutual aid towns of Eustis, Carrabasstt Valley, Kingfield and Rangeley were called to the restaurant to fight the blaze. The first call went out at 12:15 a.m., Eustis Fire Chief Rusty Fearon said.
“It was a fully involved structure fire when we arrived,” he said. Water had to be shuttled in tankers from a hydrant 3.5 miles to the south of the restaurant. The weather was unseasonably warm and foggy with ice at times producing minor traction problems, Fearon said.
Investigators with the state’s Fire Marshal’s Office, who were on the scene today, said the cause of the blaze is “undetermined” due to the severe damage to the kitchen and ell, where the fire is believed to have started. The kitchen and the ell connecting it to the main house were located at the back of the structure. A bar, the Blue Heron Pub, is located upstairs in the main part of the house.
The main house suffered smoke and water damage but the fire was contained to the kitchen and ell areas. No one was injured fighting the blaze.
The Porter House celebrated its 100th year this year. According to the restaurant’s Web site, www.porterhousemaine.com the house was built in 1908 for Mr. and Mrs. Florin Porter. A jeweler, Porter worked out of a small shop built in the main house and was known to travel to remote logging camps in the area to sell his wares. The house continued to be a private home until January 1985, when the restaurant opened its doors.
Firefighters left the scene at 5 a.m. this morning, but returned this afternoon to check the structure after a report of smoke rising from hot spots attempting to flare up again was received.
