Tragedy struck the small town of Meddybemps early Thursday morning when it was discovered that a beloved roadside attraction, the smallest blueberry in the State of Maine, was destroyed by fire.
The blueberry, constructed from microplastics by summer resident and artist Viktor Van der Kamp in 2017, measured just half a millimeter in diameter, about five times the width of a human hair. It was just barely visible to the human eye and was best viewed through a microscope.
The fire was suspected to have been caused by an electrical fault, according to the Meddybemps Volunteer Fire Department, who was on the scene around 4 AM on September 8th.
“This is once again proof that forensic techniques used in fire investigation are paramount to determining the origin of a fire,” said Meddybemps fire chief Arnold Milligan.
Others aren’t so sure. “This thing was apparently glued to a tree trunk five years ago,” remarked a local resident who did not wish to be named for this story. “It’s the size of a speck of gravel. Couldn’t it have just fallen off between now and then? There aren’t even any electrical wires nearby!”
Fire Chief Arnold Milligan was under intensive scrutiny by law enforcement in 2014 after a blaze claimed his own home. That fire was also determined to be electrical in origin.
“Fire investigation works. No more questions.”
