Maine Company Steps Up To Help After Bangor Resident’s Roof Damaged By Ax

It was one of the hottest days yet this summer when a local couple woke up to what became a day-long nightmare, leading to the shutdown of the neighborhood, some tense moments, and extensive damage to the roof of their Bangor home.

But thanks to the kindness and generosity of some local businessmen, they're changing that bad dream into a dream come true.

How it all started:

It was the early morning of Wednesday, July 16th. Bangor resident Veronica Levesque had been having trouble sleeping that night, due to the heat and humidity, and decided to get up and make some coffee around 4 AM. When she went to the kitchen, she heard a loud noise. Her boyfriend, Pete Rairdon, was still asleep in the bedroom.

"We just recently had a new porch built on the back, and I was afraid that the door might not have been locked and that somebody might have gotten in there."

Levesque, who has owned her home at 309 14th Street for over a decade, says she continued to hear the noise and decided to try banging on the wall to scare away whatever or whoever was making the noise. But the noise continued, so she went and woke Rairdon, enlisting his help with the matter.

"He came out, and looked, and a man had taken my step ladder, it's like a 10-foot step ladder that was behind the garage, and put it up against the porch, and had climbed up there."

Rairdon hollered up to the man and asked him why he was on the roof. Levesque says the stranger told the couple that his drugs were in the chimney and he was going to go up and get them.

Not knowing what, if any, weapons the stranger may have had on him, Rairdon pulled the ladder away from the side of the house and called the police.

Read More: Crisis Negotiators Respond To Bangor Man On Roof Incident

That's when everything "blew up", as Levesque describes it. The Bangor Police and Fire Departments arrived on the scene and shut down that section of 14th Street from Allen to Dean Street. The Crisis Negotiator worked alongside the local EMS teams for hours in the hot sun, trying to coax the man down from the hot, metal roof.

Levesque, who typically works from home, says she initially tried to get some work done while the authorities were dealing with the man. Things then got very real when she was asked to leave the house.

"Pete came in to get me and said the Chief wanted me to leave the house because he [the man on the roof] had a small knife with him as well, and he wasn't sure what was going to happen. So I had to leave the house, and that's when it got really real for me."

Levesque says they attempted to resolve the situation for several more hours in the blazing heat, when at one point the Fire Department tried to get a bottle of water to the man by raising up one of their truck's long buckets. That's when things took an unfortunate turn, as the well-meaning firefighters didn't realize there was a fire ax in the bottom of the bucket.

"The negotiating police officers all did a great job. And honestly, I felt really bad for the Fire Department. They were trying to do their best when they put their basket up there. You know, they tried to offer him water. I was sitting in a vehicle fairly close so I could kind of hear, and the ax was inside the basket. And he was just so strung out that he dove into it. His feet were right up in the air, within seconds, and then he was back on the roof with that ax. I don't know how anybody could have ever predicted that."

Levesque says that once the man got hold of the ax, he immediately started driving the pointed end of it into the roof.

"It was the actual roof of the house, right near the chimney. He stayed there, pretty much the whole time, either on the chimney or behind it. I don't know how he didn't fall. It still blows my mind...that he was up there like that."

Eventually, after several hot, tense hours on he roof, authorities were able to get the man, Stephen Nason, to come down peacefully. He was taken to a local hospital for evaluation, and upon his release, was arrested, charged, and transported to jail.

The Aftermath: 

Levesque says that following the incident, some issues developed within the house related to the damage the roof sustained that day.

"We actually have noticed some wet spots on our living room ceiling. I know he picked at the chimney, so I don't know if it's coming from the roof damage or the chimney...I don't know. But it needs to be fixed."

She says she believes that the Bangor Fire Department went up on top of the roof at some point to take some pictures of the damage, after the man came down that day, but neither she nor the insurance adjuster has been able to get up to assess the damage personally. Levesque says she's been working with the adjuster and a couple of local construction companies to try to get an estimate for what it would cost to repair the roof, but the process hasn't been an easy one.

Roofers To The Rescue:

As they often do, Levesque's story made the news and caught the attention of one local roofer, Keith Rogers, who also just so happens to be a firefighter. Rogers took the story to Trevor Fabian, the new General Manager of the company he works for, Home Roofing Solutions, to see if maybe they could help her out.

Fabian started with the Maine-based roofing company earlier this year. Originally from North Carolina, Fabian spent over a decade as a Combat Controller in a Special Operations Unit of the United States Air Force and says when he heard of Levesque's roofing issues, it was a no-brainer; they would help.

"We're always trying to keep our ear to the ground for ways in which we can help out the community. And one of our Project Managers here at the company, Keith Rogers, who is also a Volunteer Firefighter, came to me and told me about what had happened...he filled me in and talked to me about what happened...We're a roofing company. That's what we do, day in and day out, so he asked what I thought it would take to do this for this family. And I said, 'Yeah, let's do it. Absolutely!' We both knew pretty much immediately that we wanted to take care of this family. "

Fabian says Rogers went out to the home that day to meet with Levesque and Rairdon, and hear their story. That meeting, he says, was emotional, as the couple was at their wits' end. Rogers was able to deliver the happy news to the couple that Home Roofing Solutions was going to replace the entire roof, materials & labor, all for free.

Levesque says she was stunned by the offer.

"He was just so kind, and said they wanted to help us and that they'd take care of it, and it's legit... His company thought it was the right thing to do. You know, community and taking care of each other."

Home Roofing Solutions, as a company, has a long history of community outreach already. They sponsor a program called 'Roofs For Troops', part of The Marino Project, that awards $10,000 towards a new roof each year to one deserving veteran. And it's this kind of connection to the community that Fabian wants to continue to build upon.

"I'm the new General Manager. I've been here 3 months, and as a veteran myself, I'm always looking for ways to be of assistance...Home Roofing Solutions has always had a legacy, and we still do, of looking for ways to help the community. I think this is a great first project that we'll have done since I've been here."

"We're trying to be the best roofing company in Maine. We've built a reputation of doing what's right for people...How can we make the customer experience better and just do right by the homeowner? And I think in the roofing industry, which is predominantly the most distrusted industry, we're just trying to change that dynamic. And to let Mainers know that we're still local. Our goal is to be the most trusted, well-respected, and reputable roofing company in Maine through our efforts and what we do."

Fabian says many of the folks who work at Home Roofing Solutions are veterans and/or First Responders, so caring for and about others is in their DNA. He says he hopes the community will continue to trust them to show up and do what's right.

The Outcome:

Fabian says the Home Roofing Solutions crew will be on hand at Levesque's house the weekend of August 16th to replace her roof so she can have something positive come out of what started as a negative situation.

Levesque says the community support has been amazing, stating that neighbors have been reaching out to her. Another local masonry company, Alpha Omega Masonry, even offered to fix her chimney for free.

"There are so many good people...It was such a relief, such a blessing. I can't even express. ..And it just blew me away. I'm so very touched."

By stepping up to help out in the community, this Maine company is fixing the holes in a roof, while repairing the faith in humanity.

Job well done.