Boston harborfest
Shop owner moves on after fire
A couple of melted Chevrolets, a damaged Thunderbird and an unscathed graphite drawing of Mother Teresa filled part of the charred interior at A&S Detailing & Auto Sales Thursday.
In the West Street shop’s parking lot, tools of Artie Pigeon’s trade were scattered amid signs of Wednesday night’s destructive fire: shattered glass, milk crates, a dealer license plate, Turtle Color Magic car polish, blackened rubble, a can of Rust Stop.
And down the road at the former Imperial Ford car dealership, thanks to a local business owners’ help, Pigeon was gearing up to immediately reopen his business.
“Everyone’s here helping me. It’s nice to have people care. You wonder where all the caring’s gone, but it’s still here. When you’re in troubled times, they’re here to help,” Pigeon said.
He said Imperial owner Kevin Meehan’s offer of work space wasn’t the only one he’s received.
Thursday morning, “Dave Consigli says, ‘Artie, here’s some keys for one of the garages I own,”‘ Pigeon said, later jiggling a key ring.
“Another gentleman pulled up this morning who Artie knows and says, ‘well, I got two bays you can use,”‘ said Artie’s wife Susan.
Customers have been calling; one woman who had an appointment rang Thursday morning to say, “don’t worry, I’m not going anywhere else,” Artie said.
Susan said she was up at 5:30 a.m., switching over the phones so customers can still call 508-478-5556, and canceling the family vacation planned for next week at Lake George.
She also ordered a banner that will hang at 232 West St., which will read “A&S Detailing is temporarily relocated.”
With the words, “please come visit us,” the sign will point people down Rte. 140 to the old dealership at 5 Cape Road.
The fire, reported at 6:18 p.m. Wednesday, drew crews from Milford, Hopedale and Hopkinton to fight flames that licked up the building and three vehicles inside. It did an estimated $100,000 in damage after sparking in a Chevy Blazer parked in a garage bay, then spreading, fire officials say.
Firefighters pushed Artie’s prized 1972 mint green Chevrolet show truck out of the garage to save it.
Meanwhile, the Blazer, which has veteran license plates, broken windows and a charred exterior, was still parked in the garage Thursday with a damaged Chevy pickup and Susan Pigeon’s repairable orange Pontiac Firebird.
Insurance officials were there to assess damage.
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After firefighters wet down the flames, Milford Fire, Police and the state fire marshal’s office poked around the rubble Wednesday night but found no clear fire cause.
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“At this point the cause is still undetermined, and sometimes you never find out what started these things - possibly an electric short,” said Milford Deputy Fire Chief Bill Touhey.
He said officials do not consider the fire suspicious.
Artie Pigeon said he planned to start working yesterday at the old Imperial building, even though it was the Fourth of July.
Pigeon said he’ll keep the boarded-up West Street building’s steel shell up and gut the inside, then refinish it and move back.
Wondering whether it is better to demolish and start anew, Susan Pigeon compared it to a crashed car. “Do we total it or can we fix it?” she asked.
The Uxbridge couple and their son Tyler, 13, salvaged things from the burned building Thursday, rescuing Tyler’s collection of Hot Wheels, bicycles the boy fixes up and sells, Artie’s tools, and some Three Stooges memorabilia.
Not long ago, the Pigeons had renovated the office area, putting up a classic car wallpaper border and making it “old-timey,” Susan said. They even had an oldfashioned phone with a separate mouthpiece and receiver.
A framed portrait of Mother Teresa, still hung on the wall Thursday, something Artie had once picked out.
“He liked it - watch over the place,” Susan explained, realizing the irony.
Danielle Ameden can be reached at 508-634-7521 or dameden@cnc.com.
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