Canisters Explode At I-393 Homeless Camp Debris Fire; 2nd Fire Reported On Ferry Street

CONCORD, NH — Concord police believe they have a suspect who may have been involved in two major fires in the same area of the city — one underneath the Interstate 393 bridge and another in a North End dumpster, about 80 feet away.

Just after 1:30 p.m., Concord fire and rescue teams as well as police, were sent to the area of The Friendly Kitchen on South Commercial Street for a report of a brush fire under the bridge. Another firefighter, in the field, confirmed “heavy, black smoke,” coming from the area and capital region dispatch, too, saying they were seeing it from the department’s security cameras.

Before arriving, about half a dozen small explosions could be heard and seen from the area where previous fires have occurred.

A woman, who was yelling and screaming about police, was seen walking from the area before firefighters arrived. A fire prevention officer, the first on the scene, told firefighters to arrive from The Friendly Kitchen parking lot.

One firefighter requested police to the area due to “reports of a missing person in the area of the fire.” A firefighter told dispatch about two minutes later that the person was accounted for.

Police arrived and confirmed a second fire in a dumpster in the north side parking lot of the 10 Ferry St. complex.

Firefighters arrived and began dousing the fire under the bridge while attempting to access the dumpster fire nearby. Firefighters pulled a fence down to access the dumpster. A second engine was also sent to the area on Ferry Street.

Two witnesses told officers canvassing the area that they heard people yelling the name of the woman seen walking away from the fire, who was believed to be a person previously arrested for trespassing in the area during other fires, according to reports on Patch.

According to scanner chatter, other officers searched the immediate area for the suspect and security footage from cameras to see if she was connected to the incident.

It is unknown, at post time, whether there were two separately set fires or the flames from under the I-393 bridge were high enough and spread far enough to reach the dumpster.

NEWS 603 also posted a video on Facebook from the Ferry Street dumpster.

Concord NH Patch will update this post when more information becomes available.

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