No one home at time of blaze
By GORDON D. FRASER
Staff Writer
LACONIA — Explosions were heard as a one-alarm
fire of unknown origin destroyed a home off
Pendleton Road Thursday.
The house — a 644-square-foot, one-story
vacation home — was leveled. No one apparently was
at the home as flames engulfed the structure.
It is unclear whether the owner, Frank Capone
of Medford, Mass., was in the area or was aware
the house was burning.
Neighbors noticed, though. Rick Booth said he
heard an explosion — like a gunshot, but louder —
as he returned to his parents’ Pendleton Road home
at about 5 p.m. He saw smoke rising from his
neighborhood.
Booth’s mother, Alicia, was at home. She heard
two explosions, following in quick succession. She
looked outside as her son returned, and saw a
nearby house, at 22 Roosevelt Lane, in flames. She
called the Fire Department.
Another neighbor, who did not wish to comment
on the incident, placed a call at about the same
time.
Down the street, Alan and Kim Thompson were in
their living room. "I thought something dropped,"
Kim Thompson said, referring to the sound she
heard, "like a plow."
The Laconia fire department was attending to a
medical emergency at the time, and a Meredith
engine arrived first. Laconia and Gilford crews
arrived shortly after, and all three battled the
blaze. "The fire department got right there," Alan
Thompson said
As flames ate at the home, the roof collapsed
and pulled a power line to the ground. "[The line]
started sparking," Booth said. It caused no
injuries.
Alan Thompson and Booth both reported seeing a
white, three-quarter-ton Chevy pickup truck
earlier in the day. Booth said that two people
left in the pick-up late that afternoon, only a
few hours before the blaze began.
Capone purchased the house in June 2004 for
$118,000, according to the City Assessor’s Office.
The property currently is assessed at $87,200.
The home immediately beside the vacation home,
at 16 Roosevelt Lane, received some damage. The
vinyl siding on its garage melted from the heat of
the nearby blaze.
"It’s a good thing the wind was blowing that
way [away from the neighboring house]," Booth
said.
Last year, a home at 16 Roosevelt Lane home was
involved in a fire. It has been rebuilt since
then.
Fire Investigator Charles Roffo says that the
cause of the blaze is unknown, but that he is
conducting an investigation. Fire investigators
will be on the scene today.
