4-alarm fire sends 13 into the freezing cold

LACONIA — More than a dozen people were forced from their residences when a four-alarm fire tore through a house on Bay Street and damaged part of an apartment house next door.

The fire was first reported at 2:24 a.m. Sunday. Multiple calls to the fire dispatch center and a report from Laconia police that a house at 17 Bay Street was on fire prompted the sounding of a second alarm soon afterward, even before the first units arrived on the scene.

The first fire companies to arrive on the scene discovered fire coming from the rear of a two-story, single-family house with an attached barn, Laconia Fire Chief Kirk Beattie said. In addition, the rear of the first floor of an apartment house next door, at 11 Bay St., was also on fire.

The occupants of both buildings were able to flee the buildings safely before the first firefighters arrived.

Thirteen people were displaced, Red Cross spokesperson Mary Brant said Monday. She said the agency was on scene Sunday morning offering fire victims assistance in finding emergency shelter, clothing, and personal care items.

Beattie said it appeared the fire started in the barn of 17 Bay Street and then spread into the two-story house. The cause of the fire remains undetermined, pending the completion of the investigation which is being conducted by the State Fire Marshal’s Office, he said.

Flames whipped by gusty winds blowing off nearby Lake Winnisquam pushed the fire to the adjacent three story-apartment house. Quick work by first firefighters to arrive on the scene kept the fire from spreading to the offices of Lakes Region Community Developers on Court Street, which are in the building just beyond the apartment house.

With the temperature around 10 degrees, much of the water used to fight the flames froze on contact. The frigid temperatures and the extent of the fire resulted in third and fourth alarms being struck, which brought fire crews and equipment from as far away as Boscawen and Concord.

Mildred Tuttle, who lives at 19 Bay Street, said she was awakened about 2:30 a.m. by the sound of fire trucks. Firefighters told her she had to leave the house until they were able to bring the fire under control. She said that she spent about two hours walking around with her dog, Rocco, until she could go back inside her house.

Douglas Jancarik, Tuttle’s next door neighbor at 27 Bay Street, said he was awakened at 2:10 a.m. and heard the sound of people arguing. He looked out and saw police cars and a glow that was illuminating the front of the houses across the street. He said he and his wife threw on some clothes and got their 2-year-old daughter dressed, expecting that they might have to evacuate. But because the wind was driving the flames in the opposite direction their house was never in danger.

“The winds were extremely strong,” he said. “We were extraordinarily lucky,”

Beattie said once most of the fire had been extinguished an excavator was used to move debris from the barn to uncover any smoldering or hidden pockets of fire.

One civilian was treated at the scene for smoke inhalation but did not require transport, Beattie said. Three firefighters were injured from falling on the ice, but none needed to be taken to the hospital.

Considering the fire occurred in the middle of the night it was amazing that there were so few injuries.

“We were very lucky that no one was seriously hurt, or worse,” he said.

Beattie said the 17 Bay Street building was destroyed, while the apartment house received some fire damaged. He estimated the loss to the two buildings at $400,000.

A total of 19 departments assisted Laconia, either at the scene or by providing station coverage. They were: Alton, Ashland, Belmont, Bristol, Center Harbor, Franklin, Gilford, Gilmanton, Holderness, Loudon, Meredith, Moultonborough, New Hampton, Plymouth, Sanbornton, Tilton, Meredith EMS, Boscawen, and Concord.