A 6-acre brush fire at Lewis Farm in Concord on Monday marked an unusually early start to the brush fire season – thanks to the melted ground.
It also followed after a Sunday when two near-simultaneous home fires struck houses in Concord and Pittsfield.
Concord firefighters investigating the house fire at 9 Eldridge St., which broke out late Sunday morning, credited smoke detectors with helping a family of 11 escape.
“There were several young children in this home and a fire that occurred without working alarms could have been a major tragedy for our community,” fire Chief Dan Andrus said.
The residents included a young married couple with four children 7 years old and younger, whose pet dog was killed in the fire, Andrus said.
“That was really heartbreaking for the kids,” Andrus said.
The family’s cat, which was missing for several hours in the bitter cold Sunday, returned that night, and the pet bearded dragon lizard also survived, the chief said.
The fire was confined to the basement of the gray, five-bedroom ranch-style home, according to a statement issued by the fire department Sunday afternoon.
But Andrus said it’s “going to be a long time” before the family will be able to return to house.
The Red Cross has said it is assisting all 11 people who were displaced in the Concord fire, as well as the four adults and one dog who safely evacuated from the Pittsfield house fire.
“Red Cross Disaster Action Team volunteers have met with the residents to ensure they have a safe place to sleep and have food, clothing, and other essentials,” the nonprofit wrote in a press release. “Over the next several days, Red Cross client casework volunteers will stay in contact with the residents and provide referrals as they begin the road to recovery.”
According to city assessing records, the one-story home on Eldridge Street is owned by George and Carmella Nameche. Attempts to reach the family have been unsuccessful.
The fire was reported at 11:43 a.m. and immediately mobilized all available Concord Fire Department units, which began arriving five minutes later to find “smoke coming from the basement,” according to reports. It was knocked down at 12:34 p.m.
The cause of the fire remained under investigation Monday afternoon.
Emergency response units from Pembroke, Allenstown, Bow, Boscawen and Penacook provided coverage while Concord crews battled the blaze in the brisk cold, fire officials said.
Before the Concord firefighters left the Eldridge Street scene, another house fire had broken out on Dowboro Road in Pittsfield on Sunday afternoon.
Photos shared online by Loudon firefighters, who provided aid at the scene, showed the two-story Cape Cod-style home at 168 Dowboro Road with flames reaching from the bottom floor to the attic.
Pittsfield fire Chief Peter Pszonowsky told WMUR on Sunday that the 10- to 15-mph winds helped the fire tear through the home.
“Immediately on dispatch, it was fully involved,” Pszonowsky told the TV station. He didn’t return a phone message left Monday.
The pair of house fires came during a weekend when firefighters from more than a dozen towns reported to a home fire in Litchfield on Saturday night. And in Alton, firefighters from 11 towns responded early Monday after a family member awoke to the smell of smoke and evacuated five other people, according to reports from WMUR.
Andrus said the heavy activity appears to be nothing more than a coincidence.
“I can’t really put my finger on why that would be,” he said. “Certainly nothing weather- or environmentally related is driving that.”
The Concord brush fire Monday, on the other hand, came about a month before firefighters expect to respond to such reports. It burned about 6 acres on the Silk Farm Road farm, but didn’t damage any property, Andrus said.
“They were burning some brush out there and it got away,” he said. “There’s a good lesson there: Even though we do have some snow cover on the ground, it’s a good idea to get a fire permit and make sure you’re keeping stuff away from flammables.”
The smoke from that blaze should send a signal that the ground is ripe for brush fires, after a recent heat wave wiped out the snow pack, Andrus said.
“It’s bare. It’s dry. It’s flammable. Even though it’s awfully cold, it’ll still burn and spread,” Andrus said.
The chief said he learned about the brush fire during a meeting with the local firefighters union – and it prompted a collective head scratch.
“We’re sitting there shaking our heads, going, ‘It’s March 6 and there’s a brush fire.’ It is very, very early to be doing this,” he said.
(Nick Reid can be reached at 369-3325, nreid@cmonitor.com or on Twitter at
@NickBReid.)