Beverage Cooler Plug Started Purple Urchin Fire: Hampton Fire

HAMPTON, NH — The Hampton Fire Department has determined that the cause of a three-alarm blaze this morning was an electrical short circuit on the base of a power cord of a beverage cooler machine at the Purple Urchin Café, according to a press statement.

Firefighters were sent to the Hampton Beach Casino Ballroom building for a report of a fire coming from the roof around 8 a.m. on Oct. 12, 2016. The first crews to arrive at the scene tackled the fire from the front stairs of the building while fire sprinklers activated inside of the building, according to Fire Chief Jameson Ayotte of the Hampton Fire Department.

“Several adjacent businesses were damaged by water and smoke,” according to Ayotte. “The building was unoccupied at the time, as most of the seasonal businesses had closed for the winter season. During the fireground operations, three firefighters received minor injuries. All were evaluated by medical staff and are expected to make a full recovery.”

Ayotte said mutual aid companies assisted in the extinguishment and overhaul of the fire. The cities and towns responding to the scene and cover the town included North Hampton, Seabrook, Hampton Falls, Newburyport, Exeter, Amesbury, Salisbury, Portsmouth, Greenland, Rye, Newington, Kensington, Dover, Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, Durham, and Stratham, according to a press statement.