Carrie Jones

Jan 21, 2026

The Bar Harbor Story is generously sponsored by The Witham Family Hotels Charitable Fund.

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BAR HARBOR—A two-alarm fire at The Jackson Laboratory on Main Street in Bar Harbor led to fire response from Bar Harbor, Southwest Harbor, and Mount Desert Fire Departments along with island coverage from Trenton, January 20.

“The fire was in their boiler building,” Fire Chief Matt Bartlett said. “The fire was in one of the pellet feed hoppers. The fire was contained to the hopper.”

The lab’s Bar Harbor campus has been its headquarters since 1929 and holds 68 buildings on 169 acres. The research facility, according to its website, “investigate(s) the genetic basis of human disease by using the mouse as a model, working closely with human genomics researchers at JAX Genomic Medicine in Farmington, Connecticut.”

At approximately 1 p.m., fire departments began responding, coming in off the Schooner Head Road, which is behind the large campus.

Shortly after 1:12 p.m., Bar Harbor Fire Chief Matt Bartlett said that there is an active fire inside a vessel within Building 65. The department called for more manpower moments after.

The fire was contained and units were clear approximately 90 minutes later.

“We requested a second alarm, we do not have any automatic mutual aid,” Chief Bartlett said. “With the second alarm, we get response from Mount Desert, Southwest Harbor, and Ellsworth to the scene. Trenton fire and Southwest/Tremont ambulance stand by at the Somesville Station, providing island wide coverage.”

At this time they have not determined the cause of the fire, Chief Bartlett said.

In 1989, a fire devastated a Mouse Room building at Morrell Park that was undergoing renovations. Four workers were injured.

Chief Butch Higgins requested help from other fire departments and more than 100 firefighters responded.

A UPI article at the time stated, “Fire swept through a building at the Jackson Laboratory Wednesday, injuring at least four people and destroying about 500,000 mice used in medical research worldwide.”

A bucket brigade transported some of the animals out of the building and to safety.

The article also states, “The fire, preceded by an explosion, started around 1:20 p.m. in the Morrell Park Laboratory as workmen were renovating a breeding room in the one-story, wood-frame building, which covers 60,000 square feet.”

In 2021, a shelving unit caught on fire and that was quickly extinguished by the Bar Harbor Fire Department. The lab had been destroyed in the fire of 1947. According to the New England Historical Society, “The fire destroyed 17,188 acres, including 10,000 in Acadia.”

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Photos: Shaun Farrar/Bar Harbor Story.

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