Several Residents Displaced After South End Apartment Fire

CONCORD, NH - Concord Fire and Rescue teams as well as units from numerous capital region fire departments were called to a two-alarm fire at a three-family apartment building on Broadway on March 29, 2016.

Firefighters were sent to 20-22 Broadway in Concord at 9:07 a.m., according to Fire Chief Dan Andrus, and quickly sounded a second alarm after “heavy fire at the rear of the three story structure climbing the wall and penetrating into the attic space.” Crews from Allenstown, Boscawen, Bow, Chichester, Hopkinton, Hooksett, and Pembroke all arrived at the scene to assist.

“Crews moved aggressively, extending hose lines up the interior stairs to fight the fire from the inside and using a tower ladder truck to get crews to the roof to open the attic space,” Andrus stated in a press statement. “The fire was declared ‘knocked down’ at 9:26 a.m. and was declared fully under control 30 minutes later. The quick attack kept the fire from spreading through other floors and the majority of the damage was on the outside, attic space and third floor. Fire officials said that the fire could definitely have spread to other structures if it had gained headway.”

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The building contained three residential units. A number of residents were displaced due to the fire.

Andrus noted that 11 people were living in the building and several were home at the time of the fire.

"Three people escaped through a second story window and two of them dropped to the ground from the roof of a porch," he stated. "A passing motorist saw them and pulled his truck next to the building and assisted a third person down from the roof. He then went to a side door and alerted a man to the fire and carried his 6-year-old child from the structure."

Broadway was closed for several hours during the fire with Concord Police assisting with traffic control. Mutual aid companies from Epson, Henniker, Manchester, and the Penacook Rescue covered Concord’s stations during the incident, Andrus stated. He added that the cause of the fire is unknown at this time.

Concord NH Patch would like to thank Brian Blackden for photos from the fire and Mia Vallee for submitting video of the early stages of the fire.