MANCHESTER, NH – Residents of a multi-family apartment house made it out safely after a furnace fire was called in at about 9:30 p.m. on Sunday.
The call for a basement furnace fire at 261 Manchester St. was accompanied by information that a child was trapped on the third floor.
Four engines, two ladders and 1 rescue truck were assigned to this incident. Crews arrived to the three-story inner-city tenement to find that all residents had self-evacuated, including a girl who had been trapped on the third floor.
Smoke was coming from the basement extending into the living spaces. Crews advanced into the smoke-filled basement and rapidly extinguished the fire in the furnace, disabled the unit and terminated the fuel supply. Simultaneously additional crews searched and evacuated the remainder of the tenants in the building. Crews remained on scene to ventilate the smoke from the affected areas.
Due to the quick notification of the fire by a passerby and the rapid response (crews arrived one minute after notification) and work by the fire crews all three families were able to return to their home at the conclusion of this event.
The cause of the fire was deemed accidental due to a mechanical failure of the furnace. Estimated damage was $1,000.