The Katahdin building, which was gutted in June by fire, was demolished early Tuesday. The building, which once stood at the corner of Bennoch Road and Main Street in Orono, contained 18 units and, at the time of the fire, housed 26 people, including 12 University of Maine students.

Demolition began at 8 a.m. and ran until shortly before 1 p.m. Crews used a giant excavator to knock the building down, while firefighters sprayed water to keep dust down. At one point a hose broke on the excavator, and the crew needed to repair it. The repair took about 15 minutes.

The streets were closed in downtown Orono but crowds gathered; they were ushered off Main Street later on.

CORRECTION:
An earlier version of this article erroneously stated that a crane was used to knock down the building. A crane is a machine used to raise and lower heavy objects; the machine used was an excavator.

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Related Posts:

• Fire guts Orono apartment building (June 11, 2009)
• Circling Katahdin (November 10, 2005)
• Men demolished in fourth consecutive setback (February 16, 2006)
• Orono building gutted by fire (February 12, 2010)
• Former student’s body found in Orono (September 14, 2009)

This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 4th, 2009, 3:46 pm. You can follow any responses to this article through the RSS feed.