Fire claims life in Meredith

Deborah Tumey, the former owner of the Weirs Beach Smokehouse restaurant, died when fire swept through her lakefront home at 91 Old Hubbard Road at the foot of Meredith Neck on Sunday night.

Fire Chief Ken Jones said yesterday that the fire was reported at 9 p.m. by people who saw the flames from across the lake. Sergeant Robert Chase and Officer Kevin O'Reilly of the Meredith Police, the first to reach the scene, tried to enter the house, but could not withstand the heat and flame. Firefighters reached the home, which sits at the end of a long sloping driveway, by 9:08. "There was heavy fire," Jones said. "One side of the house was gone and the rest was in flames."

He said he immediately called a first alarm, drawing units from Center Harbor, Moultonboro and Holderness.

Faced with intense flame and heat, whipped by strong winds, firefighters fought the blaze from outside for nearly an hour before they were able to enter the building and finally subdue the fire around 10:20 p.m. Soon afterwards Tumey's body was found.

The fire consumed the two-story section of the house facing the water, but firefighters stopped it from spreading along a breezeway, where firewood was stacked, to the attached garage.

One Meredith firefighter who fell, injuring his shoulder, was treated at Lakes Region General Hospital and released.

Jones declined to speculate on the cause of the fire, which he said is being investigated by the New Hampshire Fire Marshall.