Tag Archives: New Hampshire

Government/Military, Prison / Jail

Laconia, NH – Sprinkler system helps to limit fire at county jail; Overheated generator was cause

A fire that broke out at the newly completed Belknap County Community Corrections Center last week may have caused as much as $100,000 in damaging, authorities report.  Assistant Fire Chief Kirk Beattie said an exhaust pipe from an emergency generator overheated during a load test, setting the surrounding plywood on fire. Workmen who had been performing diagnostic testing on the generator had been operating it at capacity over time when the fire started late Thursday morning.  Workers quickly called the fire department and deployed multiple fire extinguishers to help to slow the blaze that quickly extended from the generator room next to the sally port into the attic above, charring one bay of rafters.

Beattie credited the quick call for help coupled with the use of fire extinguishers and the building’s sprinkler system with collectively working to limit the spread of the fire and amount of damage.

“It was the proper pipe from the generator, but it looks like the whole generator overheated,” Beattie said.

Firefighters were already en route when the fire alarm was tripped and found a fire hydrant within 10 feet of where the first truck parked.

No inmates were in the section of the building where the fire occurred and neither the jail or the adjacent nursing home were impacted by the incident, according to Beattie. No injuries were reported.

Firefighters remained on scene for about three hours and had to cut away a section of the roof as well as an outside wall to assure it was completely extinguished. Initially estimates of damage were between $30,000 to $50,000 but Beattie said as a result of the sprinkler activation the generator was completely soaked and may likely end up having to be scrapped.

Hotel / Restaurant, Restaurant

Conway, NH – Sprinkler system helps douse broiler fire at Burger King

“Flame broiled” was taken to a whole new level on Friday afternoon after a kitchen fire at the Burger King on 1385 White Mountain Highway in North Conway forced the restaurant to be evacuated. The popular fast-food restaurant is expected to be closed for a few days.

“The fire occurred in the exhaust hood for the broilers that cook the hamburgers,” North Conway Fire Chief Pat Preece said, and when firefighters arrived on the scene, they were greeted by thick black clouds of smoke coming from the roof along with flames in the kitchen. Crews were able to use a hand line (hose) to extinguish the blaze.

Preece said the department was toned out at approximately 1:50 p.m. It was a First Alarm fire, which saw North Conway, Conway and Redstone fire departments respond to the scene while the Bartlett Fire Department covered the North Conway station.

“The crews did a real nice job of knocking it down pretty quickly,” Preece said, and added that a sprinkler head near the broiler went off, which also helped douse the fire.

Preece said the fire initially spread from the broiler into the ceiling and onto the roof near the exhaust pipe. The rubber membrane around the pipe also caught fire.

“The Burger King staff did a nice job of not waiting and calling 911 relatively quickly,” Preece said. “The initial call was that there was smoke in the ductwork. They evacuated the building; it was full of thick smoke.”

Preece said based on a preliminary observation, Burger King will be closed “for a couple of days,” in order to clean up and do repairs.

“There is some electrical wiring that needs to be done, and the hood system (for the broiler) needs to be redone,” he said. “It was a good job by everyone from the Burger King staff to the firefighters and Conway police, which handled traffic in a busy, busy parking lot.

You’ve got Burger King and CVS there along with people trying to cut through the lot to get to Eastman Road.”

Government/Military, Other-Government/Military

Laconia, NH – Fire in circuit courthouse contained with help from sprinkler system

A fire in a trash can caused the evacuation of the Laconia Circuit Court Monday afternoon.  Meredith’s Vikki Fogg said she opened the door to a ground floor restroom to be met by flames. She told her grandson Nathan, 7, to go tell the bailiff conducting security screenings at the courthouse entrance that there was a fire.

“It was really going,” said bailiff Bill Barnard who grabbed a five-pound dry chemical extinguisher and doused the fire.  Court was in session at the time the fire broke out and security personnel had smelled smoke and were searching all three floors of the building for the source when Fogg opened the door to the first-floor restroom at the end of the hallway between the offices for the probate and family court and the circuit court.

The fire triggered the building’s smoke alarms but not the sprinkler system. Laconia Fire Chief Ken Erickson said his department responded to the fire alarm activation and were advised en route to 26 Academy St. there was smoke in the building, and that security personnel were looking for the source.

“Any time you have a report of a fire in a courthouse it’s of concern. It’s a government building and you have to think whether something else might be going on. Someone trying to create a diversion to get someone out or a disgruntled person trying to lash out,” Erickson said.

Courthouse staff directed people to leave the building after smelling smoke and then joined them gathering in the rear parking lot as firefighters arrived. Fans were set up to help clear the air. Damage was limited to the ruined trash can and to the mess made by the dry powder from the chemical extinguisher.

Security cameras are mounted throughout the building and bailiffs were confident that recorded video images coupled with observations made by people in the courthouse would lead to the source of the fire.

 

Nursing Home/Senior Living, Residential

Nashua, NH – Middle of night nursing home fire contained by sprinkler system

A fire at the Courville Nursing Home early Sunday sent one person to the hospital and forced more than 50 patients to be relocated to another facility, authorities said. One person was taken to Southern New Hampshire Medical Center for evaluation and possible smoke inhalation, according to the fire department. Fire crews responded to 22 Hunt St. just before 2 a.m. and found a fire in one of the patient rooms on the second floor. Staff already had removed two patients from that room. The fire was contained by the activated sprinkler heads. Fire crews put out the remaining fire.

Second-floor patients were removed from the fire area and sheltered in a safe location until areas could be ventilated and water removal efforts completed, according to the fire department.  “Due to smoke and water damage to several wings of the facility, a coordinated effort of Nashua Fire Rescue, Courville Nursing Home and various ambulance providers, 50-plus patients were relocated to Greenbrier Nursing Home until repairs and cleanup in areas of the facility can be completed,” the fire department said.

The cause remains under investigation. “Sprinklers in this case quickly contained the fire until the arrival of the fire department,” authorities said.

Hotel / Motel, Hotel / Restaurant

Nashua, NH – Sprinkler system helps contain hotel fire to one room; No injuries reported

A fire at a hotel Sunday morning caused damage to three rooms and left three occupants displaced.

Nashua Fire and Rescue said they responded to the Temple Street Hotel at 23 Temple St. at about 9:30 a.m. after an alarm was activated.

Upon arrival, they discovered there was a fire in one of the rooms within the rooming house and smoke showing from a third-floor window in the rear of the building.

Officials said a fire sprinkler was activated that helped keep the fire contained to the room of origin until they could completely extinguish it.

The room of origin and two rooms below suffered significant water damage, and three occupants were displaced. Officials said no injuries were sustained during the blaze.

The cause of the fire remains under investigation.

Apartment Building, Residential

Concord, NH – Fire at 167 year old farmhouse controlled with help from sprinkler system

Concord firefighters envisioned the call before it became reality, imagining what it would be like to have to put out a fire at the massive 1850 farmhouse – converted into apartments – at 4 Garvins Falls Road.

“I think somebody told me last night,” fire Chief Dan Andrus said, “this is the building you drive by and you go, ‘I hope I’m not on duty the night that comes in.’ ”

The chief added: “This building is 167 years old. It’s a lot of very old and dry timber.”

Just before midnight Sunday, the imagined call happened. Residents of the Farmhouse Apartments smelled smoke, and within five minutes, 19 Concord firefighters were on the scene.

Then, almost immediately, they rang a second alarm, beckoning crews from seven towns and bringing the total to 40 firefighters.

Investigators determined Monday that the fire was “caused by the improper disposal of smoking materials, which fell through cracks into the building’s basement where it ignited dry leaves and other combustibles.”

That meant that the flames crept through the gaps in the walls, “which gives fire a good avenue to move through a building, sometimes undetected,” Andrus said.

In the dark of night, when temperatures plunged as low as 10 degrees, firefighters tore into the walls to ensure the flames would have no escape. This environment – coupled with the hazard of the old building – necessitated backup from surrounding towns to relieve the responders who were exhausted from heavy physical labor, the chief said.

“It’s difficult to sustain hard work in temperature extremes,” Andrus said.

But relative to the size of the building, which stretches roughly 200 feet end to end, according to city assessing records, the fire was contained to a small portion.

Deputy Fire Chief Sean Toomey credited the aggressive response and the building’s sprinkler system with averting “a potentially catastrophic fire.”

“Sprinklers don’t cover all of the spaces in a building,” Toomey said. “In this case, it took a considerable amount of effort to stop the fire from spreading through the voids and save the building.”

No one was injured, the chief said, but the fire caused “heavy damage to two units” of the complex, which has white clapboards and a green roof and is located behind the Dunkin’ Donuts on Manchester Street.

The Red Cross said it was assisting 23 adults and four children as a result of the fire. It was the second house fire in a week in the city that prompted assistance from the Red Cross.

“They met at the Red Cross Regional Headquarters in Concord, N.H., to stay warm while they were assisted,” the nonprofit wrote in a statement. “Local firefighters were on site to assist as well.”

The building – assessed at $775,000 – has been owned by Farmhouse Apartments LLC since 2008, according to city assessing records.

A man who answered a phone associated with the company’s owner, Matthew LoGuidice, said he wouldn’t be available to speak about the incident.

“I’ve got nothing to tell you at this time,” said the man, who also said he was not LoGuidice.

The Red Cross didn’t immediately return a phone call seeking more information on the displaced residents.

 

Primary / Secondary School, School / University

Derry, NH – Fire in storage closet at elementary school suppressed by sprinkler system

A malfunctioning heat pump caused a small fire in a storage closet at the Derry Village Elementary School Friday afternoon. The Derry Fire Department first responded to an activated fire alarm at 2:59 p.m. and found that there was smoke in the third-grade wing of the school.  The building was unoccupied at the time except for janitorial staff.  The school’s sprinkler system had contained the fire to the storage closet and it did not extend to the ceiling.  The contents of the storage closet were significantly damaged with an estimated loss worth $3,000.  The fire was brought under control at 3:25 p.m.  The properly functioning alarm and sprinkler limited damage to the building and quickly alerted first responders to the threat, fire officials said.  The heat pump had ignited combustible materials that were just below it, leading to the fire, officials added.

Auto Dealership, Retail

Epping, NH – Sprinkler system helps firefighters tackle blaze at auto dealership

Firefighters battled a two-alarm fire in the service department area of Hurlbert Toyota that forced more than 40 workers to evacuate the building Monday afternoon.

Fire crews from several towns responded to the car dealership at 58 Calef Highway (Route 125) after the fire broke out just before 4 p.m.

The cause of the fire wasn’t immediately known, but it may have been started by an overheated motor in an air compressor, according to Jeff Hurlbert, the company’s vice president.

Epping Fire Chief Don DeAngelis said he saw fire inside the compressor room when he arrived.

The sprinkler system activated and helped contain the fire, he said.

“There was a lot of grease that was stored there and that caught fire and started rolling out on us,” DeAngelis said.

One employee was treated after he appeared to suffer some burns when he attempted to extinguish the fire, DeAngelis said.

The fire quickly went to two alarms to bring more apparatus to the scene.

DeAngelis said Epping fire crews ran out of water shortly after arriving, but water continued to flow as soon as Brentwood firefighters hooked up to a nearby hydrant.

Employees began evacuating the building moments after the fire broke out and the alarms and sprinklers activated. Some waited outside in the cold while others walked over to the McDonald’s restaurant next door to stay warm.

“When the alarm went off I immediately evacuated the upstairs and came down and started evacuating the main floor and saw the smoke,” said company president Roy Hurlbert.

He said more than 40 employees were working at the time and made it out safely.

The extent of the fire, smoke and water damage wasn’t immediately known.

Manufacturing, Other - Manufacturing

Keene, NH – Fire in dust collector at metal fabricator controlled with help from sprinkler system

No one was injured in a fire at EVS Metal in Keene last Friday morning. A dust collector caught fire, according to Keene Deputy Fire Chief Jeff Chickering. Fire officials believe sparks from the work of nearby employees ignited the fire, he said.  Chickering did not know how many workers were in the building at the time of the fire, but all got out safely.  There was some heat damage within a 15-foot radius of the dust collector, and the fire set off two sprinkler heads, he said. Damage is estimated at $15,000, he said.  In addition to Keene, the Brattleboro, Spofford and Swanzey fire departments responded.  EVS Metal is a precision sheet metal fabricator.

Hotel / Restaurant, Restaurant

Nashua, NH – Grease fire at café controlled by sprinkler system

A Nashua cafe is set to reopen Friday after a fire this week. On Tuesday, a coffee roaster caught fire at the Riverwalk Cafe & Music Bar, fire officials said. No one was hurt.  The restaurant remained closed Thursday for cleanup. It will reopen Friday at 6 a.m., according to the owners.  The fire broke at about 11:45 a.m. Tuesday, triggering an overheard sprinkler that contained the flames, according to Nashua Deputy fire Chief Karl Gerhard. Workers used portable fire extinguishers, furthering containing the fire.