By GORDON D. KING
And BEA LEWIS
Staff Writers
MEREDITH — Ten people, including four children and
an expectant mother, were left homeless when a fire
swept through a four-unit apartment building Tuesday
afternoon.
A workman, using a torch near where a floor tile
was being removed with acetone, sparked the blaze,
officials said.
No tenants or firefighters were injured. But two
cats in an upstairs apartment died in the fire.
However, firefighters and neighbors rescued four
others cats and a dog.
Bethany Rideout who has lived in a ground floor
apartment since June 2001 said she was told that a
tenant inside the building at the time the fire broke
out, discovered the blaze after hearing someone fall
down the stairs — apparently the workman trying to
escape the flames.
Rideout’s boyfriend, Josh Van Hoose, a veterinary
technician at the Lakes Region Animal Hospital, was
thankful that their four cats and dog were rescued and
praised firefighters for their efforts in helping to
salvage the couple’s belongings.
"I can’t believe the lengths they went to help us
save stuff," he said, as friends and family helped
ferry the couple’s household belongings from the
apartment to an attached barn which was not damaged.
"I was impressed with how quickly they had it under
control," he continued.
Fire Chief Chuck Palm called for a first alarm just
two minutes after the fire was reported at 1:16 p.m.
The cape-style building is located at the corner of
Stevens Avenue and Lang Street, near to the downtown
area.
Firefighters and equipment from the Holderness,
Center Harbor, Laconia and Moultonboro helped battle
the fire which caused heavy damage to the second floor
and the attic of an attached ell.
Rideout said the second-floor bathroom, where the
fire started, collapsed into the apartment below.
Meredith Police Capt. Kevin Morrow said workers
were in the process of removing floor tiles in the
bathroom and were using acetone to soften the glue and
speed the process. Another worker was working on some
pipes with a torch when the highly volatile fumes from
the acetone ignited.
The building has four apartments but only three of
them were occupied, Morrow said.
Rideout and Van Hoose said they would be staying
with family and friends. They expressed concern about
the prospects of finding another apartment that would
accept pets.
The couple was planning to take their animals to
Lakes Region Veterinary Hospital late Tuesday
afternoon so they could be examined for possible smoke
inhalation.
Van Hoose said he was told a neighbor broke a
window to allow his mixed breed dog, Dakota, to get
out.
While firefighters were busy quelling the flames
upstairs, Rideout said others were wrapping her
computer, television and other possessions in tarps to
protect them from the water.
"They were just great and did as much as they
could," said Rideout who is the manager at the New
Hampshire Humane Society.
Palm said there was fire throughout much of
upstairs of the building when the first firefighters
arrived on the scene. They did an interior attack
while other firefighters fought the fire from the
outside.
It took firefighters more than an hour before they
were able to bring the fire under control.
Firefighters returned to the scene shortly before
10:30 p.m. when the fire rekindled.
Ron Vezina of Wolfeboro owns the building. Tenants
said he was vacationing in Florida.
Cookie Boulanger of the Meredith Fire Department
Auxiliary responded to serve water and soft drinks to
the firefighters.
