AUGUSTA — For the second time in three years, the Bond Brook Recreation Area has been the scene of fire that is believed to have been intentionally set.

On Thursday, flames claimed a snowmobile trailer that was parked in the bowl area near a timing shack.

Leif Dahlin, community services director for the city of Augusta, said he learned of the fire on Thursday and went to the scene Friday morning. Dahlin didn’t immediately know who owned the trailer, which can hold two snowmobiles.

“They torched it real good,” he said. “It’s not a city trailer. It belongs to some great volunteer who brought their trailer in, and some mischief-maker had to show ultimate disrespect.”

The 300-acre recreation area on the city’s west side is owned by the city and is being developed in partnership with the nonprofit Augusta Trails organization and the Central Maine New England Mountain Bike Association.

Dahlin said volunteers have been working on trail maintenance, keeping weeds and stumps knocked down.

Advertisement

“The area is getting a lot of good, good use,” he said.

Dahlin described the fire as suspicious, saying it appeared to him that some type of accelerant was used. He estimated the damage at about $1,500, but said he had to talk to the owner of the trailer to see if any equipment or other items were on it and destroyed.

An investigator with the Office of the State Fire Marshal was called to the scene, but no other information was available later Friday.

In July 2011, a Gardiner man was charged with arson in the destruction of a wooden shed on the same property. The shed was used for timing Nordic ski races and for storage.

Daniel Dill’s image was caught on game cameras as he set fire to the shed — 12 feet by 16 feet — built by inmates at the Central Maine Pre-release Center and placed there the previous November. The cameras had been set up to catch vandals at the time.

It wasn’t clear if those game cameras are still there.

Advertisement

It was used to time ski races last winter and was empty at the time of the fire, Dahlin had said. Dill later pleaded guilty to criminal mischief in connection with that blaze.

Betty Adams — 621-5631

badams@centralmaine.com

Twitter: @betadams


Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.

Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.