Fire destroys Lakes Region linen

A fire that burned through Thursday night and into Friday morning destroyed the office and laundry of Lakes Region Linen at 41 Opechee Street, but prompt and determined action by firefighters kept the flames from reaching a home and garage just a few feet away from the blaze.

The building, located along the southwest shore of Lake Opechee, was empty when the fire broke out and no injuries were reported. Ralph Plummer, who has worked for the company for 30 years and lives across the street, said that a second shift finished work and left the building about an hour before the fire was reported.

Fire Chief Ken Erickson said that the call was received at 11:38 p.m., immediately bringing units from Laconia and Gilford. Lieutenant Chris Shipp saw the glow from the fire as he left Central Station while Captain Bill Drew, responding from the Weirs Beach Station, spotted the ball of flame and tower of smoke when he reached the Naswa Resort on Weirs Boulevard.

Firefighters arrived to find the rear (lakeside) of the two-story building engulfed in flames rising 50 or 60 feet into the air, he said. The second alarm was called at 11:42 p.m. and a third shortly afterwards. Altogether between 60 and 70 firefighters from Laconia, Gilford, Belmont, Meredith and Tilton-Northfield fought the fire while a units from Franklin covered Central Station.

Captain Bob Landry said that "the building was lost when we showed up," and two-story, wood-shingled residence immediately to the west, the home of former Laconia High School football coach and State Representative Jim Fitzgerald, was threatened by the radiant heat from the fire. "Another 30 seconds and the curtains and shingles would have gone up," he said, adding that if the Fitzgerald's home were vinyl sided, it may have been lost.

"There is some smoke and water damage, along with singed shingles," Fitzgerald said. "I can't say enough good things about our firefighters. They did a terrific job."

"Our first priority was to keep it from spreading," said Erickson. Hoses were immediately run from both ends of Opechee Street and turned on the Fitzgerald residence and a garage just to the east of the fire. "It was a while before we got to the fire itself." said the chief.

Once Fitzgerald's property was safe, Erickson said that firefighters atop the coach's garage trained a ladder pipe on the fire. "We had two ladder pipes, one on the garage and one in the street, a truck-mounted gun and three ground guns," he continued. "We were moving major, major water — 5,000 or 6,000 gallons a minute. The heat was so intense we were hosing down the trucks." Erickson said it was something of a miracle that the fire did not bring down the primary utility lines strung along the front of the property.

Despite the plentiful water, drawn from hydrants on Opechee, McGrath and Belknap streets as well as the Winnipesaukee River, Erickson said that it was difficult to douse the fire itself until the roof collapsed. Even then Landry said that "it was hard to get to the fire until all the debris burned through."

Around 10:30 a.m. Friday morning, within an hour of the last firefighters leaving the scene, smoke and flame erupted from the rear of the building. After firefighters extinguished the flames, Landry said that other hot spots of smoldering debris remained, but the site, filled with charred wooden joists and twisted steel beams, was too unstable and dangerous for firefighters to be deployed.

Deputy Fire Chief Charles Roffo said that the fire appeared to have begun in the central part of the building, amid ranks of washers and dryers, but had not yet determined what may have caused it. Erickson estimated the value of the loss of the building, equipment and materials at between $500,000 and $750,000, excluding the impact of the fire on the business.

"Business goes on," said Debbie Frawley Drake, who owns and operates Lakes Region Linen, which has supplied and laundered table, bed and bath linens as well as uniforms to various businesses for the past 38 years. Friday's deliveries, which were loaded on to trucks before the fire, were not disrupted.

Meanwhile, local businesses and other laundries as well as city and state officials quickly took steps to help the business recover. Several local firms, including Irwin Motors, offered temporary space. A number of other laundries offered to shoulder a share of the work, indicating that they would enlist some of Lakes Region Linen's some 75 employees to handle the extra workload. Drake has begun replacing destroyed computer systems and exploring the acquisition of new laundry equipment.

The New Hampshire Department of Resources and Economic Development mobilized a rapid response team through the N.H. Works program of the Workforce Opportunity Council. The team, composed of a mix of appropriate state agencies, assists businesses and sustains employment in trying circumstances. With assistance from the Department of Labor, Lakes Region Linen met its payroll yesterday as scheduled.