Fire Guts Former Friendly's Restaurant in Concord
Photo by Jay L HeathHeavy fire through the roof at the vacant Friendly's restaurant in downtown Concord, NH on October 13th,.
Photo by Jay L Heath Concord Fire Chief Guy Newbery takes operations as heavy fire and black smoke pour from the restaurant.
Photo by Jay L Heath Fire vents from the roof as firefighters set up defensive operations.
Photo by Jay L Heath A Concord firefighter operates a big line onto the fire.
Photo by Jay L Heath Concord's Tower Ladder goes to work and firefighters operate numerous hose lines onto the building.
Photo by Jay L Heath A Concord firefighter operates a big line into the building.
Photo by Jay L HeathA Concord firefighter works to open up the building as fire blows out.
Concord, NH - Thick black smoke, held to the ground by wet heavy rains, blanketed downtown Concord as fire ripped through the vacant Friendly's restaurant just before 7:00 P.M. on October 13th.
Callers reported a fire in the vacant building and a full Box Alarm assignment was dispatched at 6:52 P.M. Firefighters found heavy smoke showing with fire well advanced into the attic and roof, making it too dangerous for city firefighters to remain in the building after they made their way inside to attack the fire.
"All companies were ordered to evacuate after 10 minutes and we moved to a defensive operation," said Concord interim Fire Chief Guy Newbery. "It was wood-truss construction in an unsprinklered building, so fire spread rapidly." Newbery added that there were no fire alarms inside either, saying "the fire had a significant headway on our arrival."
A working fire and audible alarm for all off duty city firefighters was ordered, and the fire was not brought under control until 9:12 P.M. Firefighters remained on the scene throughout the night and an investigation began the next morning. No injuries were reported and the fire remains under investigation.
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