Fire causes heavy damage to Lakeport duplex

LACONIA — An electrical malfunction caused a two-alarm fire which did considerable damage to a 160-year-old house in Lakeport.

The fire on Sunday evening resulted in heavy damage to the roof and a large portion of the second floor of the house located at 499 Elm St., across the street from the Elm Street School.

Laconia firefighters were assisted by crews from six neighboring departments. It took about 1½ hours to bring the fire under control, Fire Chief Kirk Beattie said.

The chief said the fire started in a circuit breaker panel on the second floor. When one of the breakers shorted out, the fire went into the wall and then up into the attic, he explained.

When firefighters arrived on the scene shortly after 9:30 p.m. they found heavy fire in the attic of the 2½ story duplex.

A second alarm was then sounded, bringing in off-duty personnel as well as mutual aid companies to the scene.

An occupant in the second-floor apartment called 9-1-1 and reported smelling something burning, possibly in the attic above. Firefighters broke into the attic by making a hole in the second-floor ceiling, in order to get to where the fire was burning.

All occupants of the building were outside when the first fire crews arrived on the scene.

Beattie said that although firefighters were able to quickly stop the fire from spreading, there was considerable water damage to the interior of the house, which was built in 1860. He estimated the damage at $100,000.

“Although the main fire was knocked down quickly, the roof and walls had to be opened to fully extinguish the fire in the void spaces, and in the roof structure,” Beattie said.

Beattie said there were no injuries, either to firefighters or any of the building’s occupants.

Fire personnel and equipment from Gilford, Belmont, Meredith, Sanbornton, Tilton-Northfield and Franklin fire departments assisted Laconia firefighters at the scene.