Farmhouse Fire In Salisbury Goes To 3-Alarms

SALISBURY, NH — Concord and other firefighters were called to Salisbury Sunday to battle a fire at a farmhouse. Firefighters were first called to 516 West Salisbury Road around 1:30 p.m. for a report of a building fire. Salisbury, Andover, Boscawen, and Wilmot firefighters were sent first to the fire.

"We've got heavy smoke showing," a Salisbury firefighter told dispatch.

A second firefighter requested Andover firefighters tap a nearby hydrant and start a waterline to assist the first arriving firefighters.

"That would be great," he said.

A second alarm was struck at 1:45 p.m. with firefighters requested from Concord, Franklin, New London, Webster, as well as the Penacook and Andover ambulances.

Brisk winds caused problems for firefighters attempting to extinguish the fire and command was clearly frustrated in the early stages of the firefighting.

"Could you give me a list of what you have on the road coming to us please," the commander said.

After hearing the list of firefighters, command requested Unitil to come and shut power off to the house.

About 10 minutes later, an evacuation tone of all firefighters was requested, getting them out of the building, while command reported flames were coming through the roof of the house.

Jay Heath, a firefighter who takes pictures and videos of fires around the state, posted this video on Twitter at just before 4 p.m.

Salisbury NH. 3 Bells for a very large farmhouse -516 West Salisbury Rd. Copyright video Jay L Heath. All rights reserved. pic.twitter.com/PTOqiokGmB
— Jay L Heath (@jayheath188) May 10, 2020

At just after 2 p.m., Salisbury's tanker reported it was out of water and requested another frequency for water supply. With other tankers reporting that they were running out of water, too, a third alarm was struck at 2:15 p.m., according to dispatch. That brought in more Concord firefighters as well as teams from Canterbury, Hill, Tilton, and Warner teams to head to the scene.

At 4 p.m., a mayday call was issued due to a firefighter reportedly falling through the roof of the home. Penacook Rescue transported the firefighter to the hospital while more ambulances were requested to be put on standby.

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

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