By JOHN KOZIOL

Staff Writer

LACONIA — A spectacular fire, started by a child playing with a lighter, destroyed a two-family house in Lakeport on Tuesday evening, leaving nine people homeless and sending one of them to the hospital for treatment of smoke inhalation.

The two-alarm blaze at 12 Hill St. was toned out at 7:11 p.m. and was brought under control about two hours later, but not, however, before the house was left a smoldering shell.

Built in 1900, the one-and-three-quarter story, 7-room dwelling is owned by Pamelia and Keith O’Day, who live next door at 8 Hill St.

Keith O’Day said Mark and Shelly Wright lived in the upstairs apartment at 12 Hill St. with their two children while Doug and Nicole Horne resided in the first-floor apartment with their three youngsters.

Firefighters from Laconia and several neighboring fire departments battle a two-alarm fire that destroyed a home at 12 Hill St. in Laconia Tuesday evening. Investigators said the blaze was started by a child playing with a lighter. (Citizen Photo/Daryl Carlson)

Investigators from the city fire department and the state Fire Marshal’s Office had determined the fire began in the front bedroom on the first floor and was caused by a 4-year-old child playing with a lighter, said Laconia Fire Chief Ken Erickson.

The chief, who estimated fire damage at $200,000, said in addition to the one, unidentified male occupant who suffered smoke inhalation, a Laconia Police officer was bitten by a dog while at the scene and a Laconia Fire lieutenant sustained a shoulder injury for which he was treated at Lakes Region General Hospital and released.

Police said Sgt. Steven Clarke was bitten on the wrist and required hospital treatment.

The dog is believed to live in the neighborhood and was being sought Tuesday night.

Temperatures in the 20s also made conditions challenging for many of the firefighters on the scene as the thousands of gallons of water they poured onto the fire eventually found its way down onto the street where it began to freeze into slush and then ice.

The firefighters were also hampered by the presence of several motor vehicles parked in the driveway at 12 Hill St. which they had to work around, and by having to confront a rapidly-moving fire "in a bone-dry house in the middle of winter," said Erickson.

When the first fire crew arrived, personnel could already see flames coming out of two sides of the first floor of the house, he said, and entering the house, managed to knock down the fire on the first floor.

But by that time, the fire had also spread to the second floor and grew so large that 20 minutes later, Erickson was forced to order all firefighters out of the house.

After the fire was finally suppressed, mop-up and overhaul operations continued well into the night. Erickson said he expected City Code Enforcement Office Michelle Bonsteel to visit the site today and possibly order the burned-out hulk to be razed.

The home’s occupants lost "everything," said Bill McAllister, of the American Red Cross’s Greater White Mountain Chapter. McAllister said they had been given emergency housing at a hotel in the area.

Tuesday’s fire was the fourth one in the chapter’s service region since last Wednesday, said McAllister, a situation that was causing a drain on the chapter’s emergency assistance funds.

Other recent fires occurred on Court Street in Laconia, Reed Road in Alton, and in the town Bethlehem. McAllister encouraged anyone who would like to learn more about making a contribution to the Greater White Mountain Chapter to visit the organization’s Internet site at www.redcross.org/nh/gwmc.

O’Day said he was happy that the Wrights and Hornes were able to get out of the house almost unscathed.

Buildings can be replaced, he said, and "the only thing we care about is that the families got out safe."

Assisting the Laconia Fire Department at the scene were the Gilford, Meredith, Meredith EMS, Belmont, Winnisquam, Franklin and Gilmanton fire departments. Tilton-Northfield and Center Harbor provided cover trucks.