The changes to the wood shop that caught fire in June at Two Bridges Regional Jail are not a total rebuild, just replacement of portions too charred or damaged by smoke or water to keep. But as work nears completion, with new trusses for the roof on site and about to be installed with harnesses, the building looks different in one big way. The side that had three bays is now down to one.

The fire melted those bay doors’ insulation, said Naomi Bonang, lieutenant of the Wiscasset jail’s industries department with the woodworking and other programs that employ inmates. The programs also benefit area food pantries and Toys for Tots.

The wood shop damaged in the accidental, June 5 fire first served as a garage for trucks and other equipment during construction of the 2006 jail, officials said. The bays are not needed now that the building is a wood shop; filling those openings in with one regular door a window and the rest just as a wall will be better for heating the building, Bonang said on Aug. 26.

The one remaining bay suffices for getting wood into the shop, she said.

In another development, the industries department’s kiosk on the waterfront has reopened. It shut down in July, when products were selling out and couldn’t be restocked due to the fire. So far, it has only been open Fridays and Saturdays; but, once production resumes in the wood shop, more items will be finished and the kiosk’s schedule should be back to Tuesdays through Saturdays, through Columbus Day, Bonang said.

“It’s only been a couple of months, which I guess ... isn’t a really long time,” she said of the process of moving on from the fire. “I’m a little impatient because I was kind of hoping that ... we would have a very successful summer, but to put it in perspective, I think we have been very successful, because we have achieved this much, this quickly.”

 Progress appeared on track for the inmates to start making items for Toys for Tots in September, she said.