Fire strikes Fryeburg Saunders mill
A fire Thursday destroyed part of the former Saunders Bros. wood mill in Fryeburg, but new owner Louise Jonaitis said she still plans to open a furniture factory there.
Jonaitis, who bought the idled wood products plant now called Forest Industries at an auction last spring, told the Sun Journal she still hopes to use five other buildings on the property to make furniture this year and employ up to 15 people. The cause of the fire that destroyed the mill's main manufacturing plant is still under investigation, and the State Fire Marshal's office could make an announcement this week. The building was insured, and the amount of damage was not immediately available.
Jonaitis last year bid $1.05 million for Moosehead Furniture Co. in Monson with plans to restart manufacturing at its facility there, but environmental problems at the site led her to back away from purchasing the building. Instead, she bought the company's brand and the facility's equipment, most of which she sold at auction. She told the Bangor Daily News last month that she plans to continue the Moosehead Furniture name and produce new collections elsewhere in the state. Jonaitis, owner of the Grand State O'Maine Land Co. in Newry and Hanover, and partner Steve LaFreniere last year also bought the former Saunders Bros. mill in Greenwood and have resumed making rolling pins there, employing about 16 people, according to the Sun Journal.
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