Randolph
Assistant State Fire Marshal Paul Cerutti said preliminary investigation shows the fire started near a pellet-fired smoker inside the barbecue business. The fire has been ruled accidental.
“There is no indication that anyone did anything intentionally,” Cerutti said.
The smoker was installed in December, he said. It doesn’t appear that the fire began inside it, but rather in close proximity to it, he said. Each business — and the building itself — was insured. Damage was estimated at $400,000.
Vermont Maple BBQ and China Jade, which occupied the top floor of 17 South Main St., suffered the most damage in the fire, which broke out shortly before 1 a.m. Wednesday. Mid-State Sports, which operated out of the bottom of the building, suffered only water damage.
All of the business owners stood in the parking lot throughout the morning and afternoon. Each said they had been at their respective business recently, some within hours of when the fire broke out.
Heidi and Yin Li said they left China Jade around 9:30 p.m. on Tuesday. The Lebanon couple never expected to get an early morning phone call saying their business was on fire.
“We don’t know what to think,” Heidi Li said while looking straight into the door of her devastated restaurant. “You spend half of your life in a place and it all goes up in smoke.”
The Lis, who started the business in 1994, said when they arrived on scene Wednesday morning, the damage was far worse than they had been expecting.
The roof of the building had collapsed, leaving charred debris strewn throughout China Jade and Vermont Maple BBQ.
Pauline Poulin said she opened the Vermont Maple BBQ restaurant at its current location about five months ago, the culmination of a lifelong dream. Prior to opening the South Main Street business, she operated a successful food truck at the Exit 4 Mobil station.
All she could feel Wednesday morning was “heartbreak.”
“I have been working many years to build our business,” she said of the restaurant she opened with her partner, David Langhans.
Together, Poulin and Langhans have won several awards for their barbecue. All of their ribbons, trophies and awardaccolades were ruined in the fire, Poulin said.
“We’ll have to go get some more,” she said tearily.
Mid-State Sports owner Forrest Griffin, who owns the building and leases the space to the restaurant owners, said he bought the 1920s building in 2004 and has been running his own business out of it ever since. He had been planning to sell the field-sports business on Friday.
“That’s out the window,” Griffin said of the deal.
The building is assessed at $217,400, according to the town lister.
Griffin, a Bethel resident, had hoped to retire soon. He said he is unsure what he will do now.
Poulin, Langhans and the Lis said they were in the same boat. Once the shock wears off, they said, they will look at their options.
Poulin said the community already has started to rally around Vermont Maple BBQ. She said she hopes to reopen her business.
“It’s our livelihood,” she said. “But right now, our business is stopped.”
All of the equipment she and Langhans use to operate was inside at the time of the fire, she said, so the duo can’t operate out of their food truck just yet.
They still are planning on competing at the Harpoon BBQ Festival in July, though.
“We’ll be there,” she said.
Randolph Village Fire Chief Jay Collette said his department received a call about the fire from a passerby at 12:45 a.m.
Upon arrival, Collette said, his department faced heavy smoke billowing out from all four sides of the building.
He upgraded the fire to three alarms, drawing assistance from Randolph Center, East Randolph and Bethel.
Due to unsafe conditions, crews fought the fire from outside the building. Collette said it was brought under control around 4:30 a.m. Crews remained on scene until about 9 a.m.
Firefighters were forced to peel back much of the metal roof to extinguish the flames beneath it.
“Pulling the metal off of that roof was not easy,” Collette said. “It takes a lot of manpower. Resources are everything.”
Collette said his department still is adjusting after losing its headquarters to a fire in September.
Downtown Randolph has seen its fair share of devastation from fires over the years, including a 2010 fire that destroyed two third-floor apartments and damaged several other spaces in the building, including a law office and the Grill’n Chill restaurant.
Decades earlier, downtown Randolph suffered three major fires in short succession. A December 1991 fire destroyed the DuBois & Gay building near the corner of Main Street and Merchant’s Row, and just one month later, a fire gutted the Union Market Block building, leaving 15 people homeless and wiping out three businesses. Six months later, in July 1992, five businesses were destroyed when three buildings caught fire.
“Things happen,” Collette said. “I don’t feel we are plagued.”
Family members and friends of the business owners arrived on-site throughout the day on Wednesday.
Griffin hung several “no trespassing” signs on the exterior of the building, while some of his relatives swept the parking lot to make way for a truck delivering plywood. He said he planned to board up the exterior of the building.
Also in the parking lot were several of Langhans’ siblings, including his sister, Linda Caruso.
Caruso spoke about the immense time and effort her brother and Poulin have put into their barbecue business. She said Langhans has a knack for coming up with award-winning sauces and rubs.
“It’s a homegrown story for sure,” Caruso said. “We are just here for family support.”
Jordan Cuddemi can be reached at jcuddemi@vnews.com or 603-727-3248.