The New Hampshire Union Leader
MANCHESTER, N.H. — Residents of a 36-unit building were left without a home after fleeing a three-alarm fire that caused extensive damage on all three floors.
The Manchester Fire Department said three members of one family were helped out of first-floor window by firefighters who were searching the building for occupants after the call came in around 3:20 a.m.
The fire appeared to start on the ground level and spread quickly throughout the building at 65 Log St., a complex just off of South Main.
“We didn’t know what was going on,” said Jackie Hernandez, a third-floor resident awakened by a man pounding on doors and alerting people inside. “When we went out of our unit, we didn’t see anything but we smelled smoke. As we were coming down the stairs we were engulfed in smoke.”
Hernandez said she got her Boston terrier, Kennedy, safely through the heavy smoke in the stairwell and didn’t see flames until she made it outside.
“It wasn’t as big as when the fire trucks came by, then it just engulfed the second and third floor,” she said. “We lost everything. Everyone lost everything. Smoke damage, water damage, fire damage _ everything’s gone.”
Fire officials said all of the residents made it out of the building safely and one firefighter suffered minor injuries.
The Red Cross set up a temporary shelter at the Cashin Center and was assisting residents in need of a place to stay.
Damage was estimated at $750,000. The cause of the fire was unclear and remained under investigation.
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