Outside Fires Reported At Multiple Locations On I-93 North In Concord

CONCORD, NH — Concord fire and rescue teams are extinguishing fires on Interstate 93 north between Exits 14 and 16.

Around 4:15 p.m., the Capital Area Mutual Aid Fire Compact began receiving fire reports along the east side of the Interstate. The first report stated there was a fire near the Exit 15E interchange. Firefighters heading to the intersection could see the smoke from Loudon Road.

“Yeah,” dispatch told the firefighters, “multiple calls on it … and it looks like there’s one on 15 and might be one up at 16.”

The fire battalion confirmed “a large area” on fire on both sides of the Exit 15 interchange. A more minor fire was also reported behind L.L. Bean near Exit 14.

According to witnesses, several drivers stopped along the highway and attempted to extinguish the fires by stomping on them.

Fire dispatch spoke with a New Hampshire State Police dispatcher who confirmed a third large fire between the highway and the Exit 16 offramp. Dispatch suggested firefighters drive north of Exit 16, too, to check if there were other, more wooded areas north of Exit 16 that might be on fire.

The fire battalion chief said there were about four separate fires near Exit 16 and requested more firefighters. Around 4:30 p.m., the commander corrected himself and said there were seven separate fires.

Another tanker, forestry, and Bow firefighters were also requested to assist. Later, they were called off, as the Concord team was able to get control of the fires.

Fire prevention was also requested to investigate the source of all the fires. A commander also confirmed later there were not any fires north of Exit 16.

Traffic was seen backed up and slow-moving south of Exit 14.

Firefighters were placed back in service around 5:30 p.m.

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

Have you got a news tip? Please send it to tony.schinella@patch.com. View videos on Tony Schinella's YouTube.com channel or Rumble.com channel. Check out the #FITN2024 NH Patch post channel and follow our politics Twitter account @NHPatchPolitics for all our campaign coverage.