Restaurant torched by arsonist set to reopen

MECHANIC FALLS, Maine (NEWS CENTER) -- The Loose Caboose restaurant in Mechanic Falls, which investigators believe was set on fire by a volunteer fire fighter, is set to reopen on Friday.

"At first we were a little bit discouraged, but everybody was on our case to get going again, so that is what we did," said Michael Hemond, who owns and runs the restaurant with his fiancee Brittany Deblois.   "I think we surprised a lot of people, because a lot of people weren't expecting us to get up and going so fast again," chimed in Deblois.

On the afternoon of July 19th, fire fighters responded to reports of smoke billowing out of the back side of the restaurant.  They were able to keep the fire from spreading throughout the building, but not before the blaze damaged a good section of the restaurants dining area dna game room.

Investigators with the State Fire Marshall's office conducted interviews with witnesses and fire fighters and quickly arrested 18 year old Joshua Michaud from Mechanic Falls and charged him with arson.  Michaud was a volunteer fire fighter with the nearby Minot Fire Department.

"We spent one whole day washing every single dish in the place - every glass, every piece of Tupperware, every container - everything has been through the dish washer, sanitized, cause the smoke and soot gets on everything," explained Deblois.  "We just needed it back cause we really missed it and you don't realize how much you miss it until you don't have it anymore."

The couple says a group of their friends and customers have been helping out to get the place back in shape.  "It made it so it went by a lot faster and took a lot of the burden off and it was just nice knowing that you have them their for support too," said Deblois.

They plan on passing the boot around to collect money for the Mechanic Falls Fire Department when they reopen Friday afternoon as a way of thanking them for saving the rest of their restaurant.

"We want to help them out because they helped us out, because we wouldn't have a business here if they hadn't done their job right," said Hemond.