Minor injuries reported following house fire in Franklin Sunday night

FRANKLIN — One person was transported to the hospital following a house fire Sunday night. The blaze at the three-story building took nearly an hour to contain.

The fire department was dispatched to a single-family home fire on Chance Pond Road at 11:06 p.m. on Jan. 26. Firefighters requested assistance after arriving at the scene, with flames engulfing 2.5 stories of the three-story building. The fire was extinguished a little after midnight.

One individual was treated and transported to Concord Hospital-Franklin, according to a press release from Franklin Fire Department. Fire Chief Mike Foss said the victim sustained non-life-threatening injuries. There were no firefighter injuries during the fire.

The fire is under investigation by the Franklin Fire Department in conjunction with the New Hampshire Fire Marshal’s Office. The Fire Marshal’s Office did not return a request for comment.

Firefighters on the scene requested assistance after an initial report of people going back into the structure, prompting additional aid companies to arrive on the scene. Franklin Police assisted one individual out of the structure after an initial search was unsuccessful due to the damage of the home. Foss said firefighters began a search while putting out the fire.

“We kept searching the building. However, a good chunk of the floor was missing, and the integrity of the structure was being compromised,” Foss said. “We began, while searching, to put extensive water on the fire.”

Firefighters made significant progress on the fire once trucks from Franklin and Laconia with aerial ladders were in place in front of and behind the house.

“Once those were in place, we were able to get water and knock the fire down,” Foss said. “At that point in time, we could go ahead and begin to do what they call overhaul, or looking for hot spots.”

Foss said the home was currently under construction, possibly for a remodel. Foss said construction projects can create large, open spaces, which make it easier for fire to spread. A final occupancy inspection had not been completed yet as the remodeling was still in progress.

Deputy State Fire Marshal Anthony Booth and investigator Solomon Rosman were on the scene on Monday morning with Franklin Capt. Tom Hegener, a department investigator. Foss said staff at the Fire Marshal’s Office are sworn police officers with investigative skillsets like detectives, and work in area forensics and fire behavior to investigate the cause and origin of potentially suspicious fires. Investigators came to assist Franklin, and their involvement provides access to state lab testing resources and canines for accelerant detection.

“Maybe the fire is completely accidental,” Foss said. “However, if there's accelerants used, or some sort of device to help make the fire bigger, than certainly these individuals can help determine that.”