No injuries in fitness center fire early Wednesday morning

LACONIA — Firefighters from departments across the Lakes Region responded to a serious fire at The Wellness Complex early Wednesday morning, entering to fight the fire before being ordered out of the building when portions of its roof collapsed upon them. No one was in the building when the fire started and there were no injuries.

Firefighters were notified of the fire alarm activation at 1:05 a.m. on. Nov. 27. The initial crews to arrive on scene at the gym, located directly across from the downtown fire station, observed heavy smoke billowing out of the building, Deputy Chief Louis Loutrel said later that morning.

The first crews to respond made an interior attack and found the fire was located in the roof above the swimming pool, the portion of the gym furthest back from Main Street. The conditions inside the building were dangerous and wet, and portions of the roof began to collapse, some of the ceiling actually collapsing on the firefighters inside. They were then ordered to leave, and began performing defensive operations.

After Laconia’s initial response, crews from Belmont and Gilford arrived at the scene to assist. Later, five trucks from mutual aid partners including Tilton, Franklin, Sanbornton, Belmont and Meredith arrived.

Firefighters from Gilmanton, Center Harbor and Meredith covered Laconia stations and even responded to a few calls while other firefighters were tied up at The Wellness Center, Loutrel said. Firefighters enlisted the assistance of an excavator in order to remove pieces of the roof.

“It took a while for us to get it under control,” Loutrel said. Firefighters had the scene secured sometime after 5 a.m.

The fire was contained to the portion of the roof over the pool. Firefighters set hose lines on safe parts of the building and on the roof of a neighboring building in order to extinguish it.

The cause of the fire has not been determined. The fire department will investigate but were not able to as of about 9:15 a.m. Wednesday morning because of a large amount of water, debris and generally unstable conditions. No firefighters were injured and there were no employees there when the fire erupted.

Tom Grant, himself a former firefighter and EMT who now lives in the Weirs, said he was at his home when he heard radio chatter about the fire and, knowing the location was straight across the street from the downtown fire department, made his way over and parked at Opechee Park.

“It was already well-involved when [firefighters] got there,” he said Wednesday morning. “Quite a lot of firefighters being very aggressive, they were doing an interior attack at the time.”

Grant said he was impressed by the department's response and they appeared to handle the situation professionally. He noticed the streets were slippery and oily, in part due to the dropping temperatures and moisture.

“I think everybody knew exactly what they needed to do,” he said. “I have a great deal of respect for how they handled it.”

The Wellness Complex, a 24,000-square-foot fitness center, opened on North Main Street downtown in 2018. It’s got an Olympic-sized swimming pool and took over the space previously home to a YMCA.

An email was sent to patrons of the gym at 5:30 a.m. Wednesday notifying them the gym will be closed.

"Good morning, everybody. The Wellness Complex will be closed until further notice," the email from management reads. "Stay safe and warm. Enjoy your time with your family and have a wonderful holiday weekend."