When I got laid off last April and the gym closed, I started walking a lot. In the morning I'd go into Wolfeboro and walk for about 45 minutes before getting my breakfast and then in the afternoon, I'd head to the Cotton Valley Rail Trail, starting at Fernald Crossing in Wolfeboro or Clark Road in Brookfield. Those afternoon walks usually averaged somewhere between four and eight miles, depending on how much time I had, the weather and how I was feeling.
As I got back to the job, I still kept walking in the mornings when I don't have to work at the Yum Yum Shop and if there was still time, I'd try to get in a walk in the afternoon, but with games, it's not always possible. However, right now we are at a break in between seasons, so I have been walking every day. And it was on one of these walks on Friday afternoon when a text message came across my phone from my Yum Yum Shop co-worker, Joe, with a video of firefighters going in the back door of the Village Players Theater.
The Village Players, before the pandemic hit, was the place I spent the most time in outside of work. I was on the board of directors for a number of years, I've produced a number of shows, been a stage manager and done other backstage work and even been on stage a few times. The people there have all become friends and it is truly one of my favorite places to be. We had to shut down the theater during the pandemic, but I've still been there a few times a month for one thing or another. In fact, on Friday morning, I stopped in to see the work being done to replace the HVAC system.
The text with the video of firefighters hit me in the gut. Moments later, my phone rang with a call from the alarm company that monitors the theater's fire alarms, noting that the alarms were going off. At that point, I was almost two miles away from my car and had no idea just what was going on. I texted a few other members of the theater who I knew would be closer in town to get to the theater quickly to assess what was going on. I walked as quickly as I possibly could back toward my car, not knowing just what the situation was and what I would be walking into when I got back to town.
I made it to my car and drove quickly into town, feeling good that I didn't see large plumes of smoke streaming into the sky. I parked on Lehner Street and made my way on to Glendon Street on foot and caught up with board member Stefanie Marsh, who I had texted while on my walk. She had gotten the story from the HVAC guys about what had happened. Thankfully, they were still in the building at the time, called the fire department right away and the fire department was there before the alarm actually went off.
That being said, the theater is an old building, with numerous additions and strange walls and ceilings going here and there. The possibility of things going wrong was very high, and for that reason, Wolfeboro wasn't alone in fighting the fire, with Alton, Tuftonboro, Wakefield and Ossipee Corner all sending help. Eventually, I found Deputy Chief Tom Zotti, who I have dealt with on numerous occasions when it comes to inspections, etc. for the building. He caught me up on what was going on and asked me to hang around, since they needed a representative for the building.
Once they had the building vented a little, they asked Stef and I to go inside with a couple of the firefighters to take a look at what was going on. There was still smoke throughout the building, but according to the firefighters, it had dissipated quite a bit. The damage from the fire was limited to the back corner of the stage and the basement underneath it. The stage got plenty soaked, along with the curtains, but for the most part, things could've been much worse.
The HVAC guys got some plywood and, once the fire department cleared everything, boarded up the corner of the building where the firefighters had torn out the wall to fight the fire inside of the wall. I made a few walk throughs of the building as we waited for the heat to warm things up inside. Jay Sydow, Tom Bickford and I were the last three out of the building, about 8 p.m.
Driving home, I realized just how much stench the fire had put on me, but I finally was able to get a little sleep before waking up early to go to the Yum Yum Shop. On my way there, I stopped at the theater at about 3 a.m. to check on everything, doing a walk through. I went up again on my lunch break mid-morning and reset the alarm and checked everything again. The smell was still there, but the smoke was gone.
The good news is, nobody was hurt, the building is still inhabitable and we have insurance. But, for a little while, out on the middle of the trail with no quick way back, it was scary.
Many, many thanks to all the first responders who turned out to help save our theater on Friday. Without a question, we are indebted to all of you.
Wolfeboro Fire-Rescue members show where the fire at the Village Players spread in the basement. The light in the background is where the basement wall used to be.
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