5-alarm fire destroys house, barn; Couple homeless, dozens of animals feared dead

BELMONT — Investigators from the Belmont Fire Department were combing through the debris Friday of a five-alarm fire that destroyed an old farmhouse and attached barn that went up in flames in a blaze that burned for more than eight hours Wednesday night and Thanksgiving morning.

The two occupants of the house, at 722 Province Road (Route 107), in Belmont were left homeless but unharmed, officials said. But scores of farm animals that were in the barn are unaccounted for and presumed to have perished.

Belmont Deputy Fire Chief Mike Newhall said the fire was spotted at about 10:30 p.m. Wednesday.

The home belonged to Larry Carpenter and his wife, Ann-Marie. The couple was asleep when the fire started. They were awaken by a passerby who spotted flames, stopped, and pounded on the door of the house to alert the couple, who managed to escape in their nightclothes.

A sign in front of the property reads “Laren Farm 1802.”

Newhall said when the first Belmont firefighters arrived on the scene they saw heavy flames shooting from the ell that connected the farmhouse with the barn behind the residence.

“The whole sky was glaring orange,” Rheannon Fee, a neighbor who lives two houses away and described what she saw when she looked out her window Wednesday night not long after the fire started.

Mrs. Carpenter said she and her husband were able to save two dogs and a cat that were in the house, but one dog and two cats could not be saved, she said.

The property was uninsured, Mrs. Carpenter said, as she stood Friday morning just a few feet away from what little was left of the 216-year-old house.

The Carpenters and three police officers rushed into the barn to try and save a mule, goats, geese and ducks, but were driven out by the intense flames. Chickens that were housed in a nearby coop were apparently unharmed.

Three Belmont police officers — Michael Clark, Patrick Riley, and Kris Kloetz — were overcome with smoke and taken to Lakes Region General Hospital for treatment of smoke inhalation. They were released two hours later, Belmont Police Capt. Rich Mann said.

In the barn were a mule, nine geese, 15 goats, and 80 Muscovy ducks. The mule was rescued, as were one goat, one goose, and eight ducks. All the other animals were still missing as of midday Friday and were presumed dead in the smouldering debris.

Firefighters had to battle the flames in the frigid 6-degree weather, which caused 15 of the tanker trucks that were shuttling water to the fire scene to freeze up.

“Either their valves would freeze or the nozzles froze.” Newhall said.

All told, 50 firefighters and 24 pieces of firefighting apparatus were involved in fighting the blaze. And 16 departments from as far away as Chichester and Concord were dispatched either to the fire scene or to provide coverage at neighboring fire stations.

Because of the severe cold, the fire went to five alarms.

“The last time we had a fire that went to five alarms was (a commercial building next to) Major Brands” on Route. 3, “and that, too, was because of cold weather, ” the chief said. That fire, in January 2005, ultimately went to six alarms and destroyed a bookstore, gym, lighting store, restaurant, nail salon and antique shop.

The subfreezing temperatures limited the amount of time firefighters could stay outside at any one time. Firefighters were relieved periodically so they could warm up, either in a Belmont Fire Department trailer that was brought to the scene or in the garage at the home of Carl Peterson, across the road.

Belmont fire investigators were on the scene Friday looking for evidence they hoped would pinpoint the cause of the fire. Newhall said that while the cause was undetermined, there were no indications that the fire was suspicious.

Water to battle the fire had to be trucked from ponds on Rogers Roads, 0.3 miles from the scene, and on Brown Hill Road, further away. Route 107 between Brown Hill and Rogers roads was closed during the height of the fire.

Firefighters were finally able to bring the blaze under control at 7 a.m. Thanksgiving Day. But crews returned to the scene several times Thursday to extinguish hotspots which periodically flared up. A firefighter remained on the scene overnight Thursday as a precaution in case the fire rekindled.

Friends and family members of the Carpenters were quick to offer help and support. By noontime Friday people had already donated clothes and money. Fee said she had set up a GoFundMe page where people can donate money to help the couple. In addition a veterinarian had come forward to provide treatment and shelter to the ducks whose feathers were badly singed in the fire and so are unable to withstand cold temperatures until their plumage regrows. She said that anyone who wanted to give money to help care for the animals could make donations the Belmont Agway store. Plans were to transport the mule by trailer to a temporary shelter, she said.

Mrs. Carpenter said she and her husband were staying temporarily with friends.

Asked if there was one big lesson to be learned from the fire, he said, “Smoke detectors, smoke detectors, smoke detectors,” explaining the first firefighters on the scene heard no smoke detectors sounding.

Mrs. Carpenter said the home had smoke detectors, but that none went off.

The link to the GoFundMe page is: https://www.gofundme.com/npeud-help-a-friend-recover-from-a-fire