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Fire Marshal sets damage at more than $2.5 million in 3rd big fire to rack Solomon's over the years....
Bowens Still Stands!
This photo shows that the historic Bowens Inn did not burn, only the bar, home of Thursday Night Tacos, bit the dust...
Boats and Buildings Burned
This fireboat sprayed water on burning restaurants and bars. Two huge fireboats from the LNG plant provided huge steams of salt water on the burning watering holes, which is about all they are now that the fire swept through the trendy mecca of sailing marinas and crabcake palaces. This view of Solomon's harbor is from what was once the beautiful Lighthouse Inn, now just a memory. Photo at right is of Lighthouse Inn....or what used to be the large and bustling eatery owned by Richard Fischer.
ST. MARY'S TODAY photos by James Antone and Ahmar Khan
By Kenneth C. Rossignol
ST. MARY'S TODAY
SOLOMON'S ISLAND --- First it was Calvert Marina, then Solomon's Landing now it's the day Solomon's burned. Deputy State Fire Marshal Faron Taylor reports that the devastating fire which swept through the heart of old Solomon's Island destroyed Bowen's Inn bar, but leaving the landmark hotel, but destroying the modern landmark, Lighthouse Inn.
A three story-apartment building next to the burning buildings was favored by a sprinkler system and winds gusting the other way, says Taylor in an on the scene report.
"A number of boats, at least 4, have been destroyed, they were at the dock," Taylor told ST. MARY'S TODAY in the first official assessment of the huge fire. Taylor reports that 70 firefighters arrived from St. Mary's, Charles and Anne Arundel to assist the Calvert units.
Taylor said that while the first assessment of damage has been made that he expects the final cost to be much more.
"This was a 3-alarm fire with no injuries that responding firefighters brought under control in two hours," said Taylor.
Senator Roy Dyson (D. Calvert, St. Mary's, Charles) left a committee hearing in Annapolis to view first hand the damage to the restaurant row.
"This is an important part of our economy as well as our history," said Dyson, "It's a shame to see so many workers lose their jobs in one day. I will be asking for assistance from the Governor's office in processing unemployment claims for those affected but the loss could have been far worse were it not for the overwhelming response from firefighters all over the region in containing the fire which began to spread with the fierce winds. Kudos to the volunteers."
Joan Simmons, owner of the Bowens Inn, along with her late partner, Tony, had renovated the old hotel over the past ten years, bringing it back to life the hotel while the knotty-pine paneled bar had never really changed. Tony had retired from a career as the circulation manager for the Washington Post and was a central figure in Solomon's until his death several years ago. Althea Bowen also passed away in the last ten years, leaving only old photos published in the Solomon's Islander as one of the few ways to see the record catches from charter boats which left each day from Bowens Inn pier.
The Bowens Inn had been the principal charter boat operation on the island for nearly 100 years, a distinction now held by Bunky's. While charred ruins surround the Bowen's Inn, the old three-story hotel still stands. It was used by the Navy to house sailors who trained at the amphibious training center at Solomon's which earned the fishing and boat building village the moniker of 'cradle of invasion' as prepared U.S. troops for landings in North Africa, Italy and the South Pacific.
What used to be the final few weeks before the opening of the Tiki Bar, marking the beginning of the spring tourist season on Solomon's Island now may mark the end of an era for the popular Calvert County resort. The fire which started today in the heart of the old island village at Bowen's Inn, spread quickly to a two-story condo building next door, part of the Lighthouse Inn complex and then to the 20-year-old Lighthouse Inn.
Old time native Calvert County folks used to haunt the Bowen's Inn bar while the more glitzy folks with the big money preferred the Lighthouse Inn.
The late Pepper Langley, the patriarch of the island until his death four years ago, supervised the construction of the hand-built bar inside the restaurant, a bar which was built in the shape of a skipjack and featured polished wood surfaces and a center mast in the middle of the bar.
Fischer, a local real estate agent, saw the potential in the blossoming resort in the late 70's and talked a bunch of investors into fronting the cost of the two-story eatery at a time when many thought he would be going broke. Instead, the Lighthouse Inn became a fabulous success, emulated but not equaled on Solomon's Island.
Fischer, a founding member of the Solomon's Business Association, has guided many other small businesses into cooperative promotions and community events to boost business and the profile of the island. Fischer would treat hundreds of people to a free Thanksgiving dinner every year as a gift back to his community.
Despite the best efforts of the SBA, the biggest event of the year continues to be the 'Redneck Mardi Gras' with the Tiki Bar opening, where as many as 10,000 revelers show up with lots of problems, dozens of arrests, bunches of fighting drunks and many hauled off in paddy-wagons. Even the Sheriff of the County has been clobbered in past years.
For the first arriving firefighters, winds blew more than 25 mph with higher gusts, making a weak first response that much worse.
A large condo building at the Solomon's Landing resort just a mile away burned out of control on a similar windy and sunny day six years ago.
Fire roared through the Solomon's Landing just 6 years ago, leaving the Solomon's Volunteer Fire Dept. unable to control a fire in the middle of the day and unable to get their own equipment out of the firehouse.
Calvert County has accommodated many new hotels and senior living centers while the county's ability to field ambulance crews and firefighting adequate to keep up with the growth is under serious questioning.
Earlier today Solomon's scratched on an ambulance call for Asbury for a person suffering from a fall and an ambulance had to be dispatched from Hollywood in St. Mary's County.
The volunteer fire and rescue system has served Southern Maryland fine as long as it was a rural community but as population grows, new people coming to the area are aloof and don't bother to participate in volunteer fire and rescue efforts, putting even more of a burden on local volunteers who work at raising money for the fire departments and rescue squads.
One group of residents of Victoria's Grant in California actually opposed the construction of the new Lexington Park Vol. Rescue Squad substation on Buck Hewitt Road, saying that they didn't want the noise of sirens screaming in the night to wake them from their sleep.
But Calvert County officials eager to expand the tax base don't want to anger volunteer firefighters by suggesting that paid career firefighters be added to the day-time crews. The suburban areas have had to face this problem years ago, now the demand for many medic units to serve an aging population and more fire crews to serve the denser development is a reality driven home by the inability to quickly contain a major fire.....more