No injuries after electrical fire at Shore Drive home

LACONIA — A Shore Drive home caught fire on Sunday afternoon, due to an electrical issue, but fortunately for the homeowner, the fire was limited to the exterior, and the residents were not forced to leave their home.

Laconia Fire Chief Tim Joubert said the fire department responded to a call at 12:04 p.m. on March 15, from a resident on Shore Drive, who reported the outside of the home was on fire. Joubert said it appears a neutral wire started back-feeding electricity into different parts of the house, including a coaxial cable.

Joubert said the resident heard clicking sounds, and went outside to find flames, and was attempting to extinguish the fire with a bucket of water when crews arrived. The fire department contacted Eversource to turn off the power to make it safe, and then evacuated the home while they went to work.

“Once the power was off, we opened up the siding to confirm that it didn’t extend to inside the house,” Joubert said, adding they confirmed the fire didn’t enter a confined attic, which was an initial concern.

Joubert said the early investigation found a wire from a pole snapped and caused the electrical fire, but said the scary thing was it is difficult to know exactly where the power was going.

On Monday morning, Joubert said the home was habitable, but without power. No injuries were reported, and the firefighters left the scene at 1:23 p.m.

Joubert said this was a situation which could have been much, if nobody was home when the fire started.

“Everyone got really lucky, to be honest,” Joubert said. “They were lucky to be home when it happened.”