Patrons lament the loss of Verrill

Farmstand razed after weekend fire

From left, employees Guida Ponte, Rodrigo Castro, and Candy McDonnell sorted through baskets yesterday that customers left when they fled the building after the fire started. (Justine Hunt/Globe Staff)

CONCORD - They left their cars on the side of the road and drifted toward the charred building, staring wide-eyed as workers gutted the remains of the popular, nearly century-old farmstand. These customers had to see for themselves what was left of the Verrill Farm stand after it was consumed in a fire Saturday night that investigators determined was caused by a malfunctioning ventilation fan.

"We were all very sad when we heard it burned down," said Janet Feda of Sudbury, facing the site where she had brought her children for strawberry festivals and fruit pickings, and where she sometimes grabbed a home-cooked meal on nights she did not have time to prepare one.

Dozens of customers made the pilgrimage - often with cameras in hand - and asked what they could do to help. A local coffee shop set up a makeshift refreshment stand with lemonade and coffee next to a sign that read, "Thank you for all these years."

Officials said the fire started in the ceiling and gained strength in the attic for a few minutes before spreading to the first floor of the deli, where at least five employees and several customers could smell smoke but struggled to locate its origin.

"We knew we could smell something, but we didn't know where," said Candy McDonnell, who was working in the deli at the time.

First came the puffs of smoke. Then the sparks. Then the flames, she said.

"The flames were falling on the ground," said McDonnell, recounting the moment with other employees. "At that point, we just knew we couldn't do anything. We just couldn't stop it."

One manager used a fire extinguisher but was forced to give up and flee, she said.

Concord Fire Chief Kenneth Willette said there were no fire code violations and that the fire alarms went off properly. The fire code in the mid-1990s, when the building was constructed during an expansion project, did not require the owners to install fire detectors in the attic. But if the owners rebuild - which they have vowed to do - they will have to meet the latest standards, which require fire-detection devices on every floor, he said.

"It could have been minutes before the people saw the fire dropping down," Willette said yesterday, after he and other firefighters inspected the wreckage.

Willette said the first firefighter on the scene after the department was called about 5 p.m. saw heavy smoke coming out of the windows, but "within minutes the fire was through the roof."

The blaze, which took about four hours to put out, was also fed by two propane tanks that began spewing gas, which ignited.

"It was like the tanks were shooting fire. . . . We had an awful lot of fuel," Willette said as an excavator knocked down the structure's unstable walls. "It was just a tough fire."

Yesterday, owners Joan and Stephen Verrill paced around the property as firefighters finished inspecting and making the site safe. The farm's fields, horses, and cows were unharmed, and the owners hope to keep providing produce to Boston-area restaurants, Stephen Verrill said.

Verrill Farm was opened in 1918 by Verrill's father, Floyd, and grew into a key part of the state's agricultural community.

The family plans to rebuild the kitchen, deli, and farmstand it lost in the fire, but it is too early to know how or when that will happen, Stephen Verrill said.

"We have a lot to figure out, but that's our intention," he said.

Feda, who stood with her 12-year-old daughter, Jenny, said she wants the rebuilt deli and stand to have that hometown feel. "I just hope that when they rebuild it is not too modernized," she said.

Jonnelle Marte can be reached at jmarte@globe.com.