Finding Memories in the Rubble
Residents Try to 'Move On' From Solomons Island Fire

By William Wan
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, March 19, 2006

Scott Belanger was on his way to his office in Lexington Park when the first call came.

"Bowen's Inn is on fire," his friend told him. So Belanger started heading home.

Just months before, Belanger, 49, had moved into a condominium two doors down from Bowen's. The only thing separating his new home from the Wednesday afternoon blaze was the Lighthouse Inn.

The second call came while he was still en route: "The Lighthouse Inn's on fire."

That's when he started worrying. He reached home on Solomons Island just in time to see everything he owned go up in smoke.

In two hours, the fire on Solomons Island destroyed two of its most beloved businesses, shocked its residents and left Belanger and others homeless. The fire began, investigators believe, with a cigarette butt carelessly discarded on a pile of dry leaves and brush. By the time it was out, it had destroyed Bowen's Inn and the Lighthouse Inn, as well as a four-unit condominium, two small boats and a trash bin.

The loss of the two inns was particularly saddening to residents. Bowen's, the last of the old-style inns on Solomons Island, had been in business since 1918. The owner, Joan Simmons, was the third generation of her family to own and operate the inn. She lived on the second floor, above the restaurant.

The Lighthouse Inn, with its three dining levels overlooking the water, was especially dear to locals because of its owner, Richard Fischer.

Since 1990, he had used the restaurant to serve free Thanksgiving dinners to anyone who had nowhere else to go or was alone on the holiday. Some years, more than 400 people were fed at the restaurant, with meals distributed to about 200 other senior citizens unable to travel.

Fischer also held several fundraisers at the restaurant, including two for Johns Hopkins researchers after they diagnosed his throat cancer and helped him fight it.

In the days since the fire, residents have stopped by the wreckage to pay their respects, take pictures and reminisce. While fire investigators sifted through the rubble, island and county officials met to offer help to the two businesses.

Meanwhile, Belanger has returned every day to the charred debris where he and his 12-year-old son once lived.

"I kept coming if for nothing else than to wait for a chance to paw through the debris," he said.

He finally got a chance to look around Thursday as fire officials were wrapping up their investigation.

He had just moved into the condo in July with all new furniture and his impressive collection of sports memorabilia.

The furniture could be replaced, but the collection, which included a football jersey autographed by Baltimore Colts great Johnny Unitas, could not, he said with sigh.

Most of all, however, he had hoped to recover his 1979 graduation yearbook from the Naval Academy along with the U.S. flag he received from the Navy at the burial of his father, who was a World War II veteran.

At first, all he saw in the wreckage were shards of metal, blackened boards and nails.

"Everything else was unrecognizable," he said. "It all melted together."

After a few hours, he emerged with two finds: the cover of an earlier Naval Academy yearbook and a melted soccer trophy that belonged to his son.

"I mean, I can see in my mind where everything was, but then I open my eyes and it's all gone, just a mess," he said.

Later Thursday night, his son -- who had been similarly upset over the loss of his video games and PlayStation -- called to tell his father that he was searching on the Internet, trying to find another 1979 yearbook on eBay.

"He's trying to help," Belanger said. "You move on, you know? You try to make sense of it and then you have to move on."