One Injured in Downing Street Fire

Concord Firefighters and Police had a busy morning in the southern part of this city on Oct. 7, at a house fire on Downing Street.

FIRST READ: Concord Fire Attacks Blaze On Downing Street

At around 11:10 a.m., teams were called to 23 Downing St. to check for a report of a fire. In about three minutes, according to Fire Chief Dan Andrus, the teams had arrived at the scene and assed the situation, seeing flames shooting up from the west side of the building.

Police cordoned off the Grove Street and a section of South State Street so a fire line could be run from a hydrant at the intersection of Downing and South State streets.

It took about 45 minutes to get the fire under control, Andrus said.

A resident at the home, a man, was transported to Concord Hospital, with an ankle injury and smoke inhalation. As of a little past noon, there were no firefighter injuries reported, according to Andrus.

A Hooksett Fire team was on hand at the scene, while firefighters from Bow and Loudon covered Concord while firefighters extinguished the home fire. Ambulances from Hopkinton and Tri-Town were on hand to assist as well, according to Andrus.

Here is a short video from the fire.

UPDATE, 2:37 p.m.: Chief Andrus offered the following statement and will update the media when a cause of the fire is determined: 

"CONCORD, NEW HAMPSHIRE – Fire heavily damaged a home at 23 Downing Street Monday morning.  The occupant of the home was injured in the blaze and the cause of the fire remains under investigation.

All of Concord’s on duty crews responded to the reported structure fire at 11:10 a.m. Crews arrived on the scene four minutes later to find heavy fire coming from the first floor.  They initiated an attack with hand held hose lines and the City’s tower ladder crew ventilated the roof.  Flames shot through the roof opening as dozens of bystanders watched.  The fire was brought under control shortly before noon.  Units from Hooksett and Hopkinton also responded to the scene and the Tri Town Ambulance transported the home’s occupant to Concord Hospital with non-life threatening injuries.  Surrounding towns provided coverage for Concord stations during the incident.

According to the City’s assessing database, the home was built in 1870."