Waiting for the ATF

Rebuilding Menemsha after the July twelfth fire that destroyed the Coast Guard boathouse and surrounding pier remains a top priority for the Chilmark selectmen, and rightly so. The selectmen are full steam ahead on preparing engineering plans and bid specifications to replace the parts of west dock that were burned in the fire, and a special town meeting is set for late next month to appropriate the necessary funds for the work. It will not be cheap — early estimates are now pushing well north of a million dollars — but Chilmark voters will no doubt back the efforts of their trusted town leaders to make prudent and carefully considered decisions in this time of crisis. A state of emergency was declared in Menemsha just six weeks ago following the devastating fire, where miraculously no one was seriously hurt.

Meanwhile, the selectmen are openly frustrated with the Coast Guard over the visible lack of activity in cleaning up the ruined boathouse and its surroundings. The area remains a scene of charred rubble, as yet untouched by a backhoe since the day of the fire. Coast Guard Commander Paul Lattanzi explained to the selectmen last week that until the investigation is complete, nothing can be touched at the scene. But questions linger: if the fire scene remains a crime scene, why is it no longer secured? A round-the-clock watch at the scene of the fire was suspended by federal authorities three days after the fire.

And of course there is the central and pivotal question: what caused the fire? Coast Guard leaders have piqued the public interest by saying that they believe the fire may not have started in the boathouse, but there has been nothing beyond that to report while a team of investigators led by experts at the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives does its work.

More witnesses are being interviewed, Commander Lattanzi told the selectmen last week, and yet leading witnesses, including Frank Fenner, a selectman who owns the Galley restaurant and was on the scene just a few short yards from the fire that day — has not been interviewed.

So what is going on here? We trust the investigators and the Coast Guard will have some answers soon.

Because the very important work to rebuild Menemsha will take a village.

And it must begin soon — this fall — if Menemsha is to be rebuilt before next summer.