Gardiner Spirit Shines Through After Fire To Raise Rescue Funds

The efforts to help the residents and businesses in the downtown Gardiner buildings damaged by a fire nearly two weeks ago have raised around $13,000 so far, including nearly $7,000 from a silent art auction over the weekend. The roughly dozen people living in the building where officials believe the fire originated lost essentially everything in their homes, and a tattoo studio that had opened in the adjoining building a couple of weeks before the fire lost thousands of dollars’ worth of equipment and had just sunk thousands of dollars more in renovations. The building that houses Gerard’s Pizza, a downtown mainstay that celebrated its 50th anniversary last year, also sustained water and smoke damage and hasn’t opened since the July 16 fire. “The community response has just been amazing,” said Mayor Thomas Harnett, “and this community, it doesn’t surprise me, but you just feel so good about how it responds and supports people in a difficult time.” Harnett, who called the fire a “community disaster,” is on the city committee in charge of fielding assistance requests from victims of the fire.