Fire in Laconia apartment building leaves 8 homeless
LACONIA - A fast-moving fire forced the evacuation of an apartment building at 121 Messer St. Friday afternoon and left eight tenants homeless.
Residents quickly got out of the building after the two-alarm fire broke out. Fire crews arrived to find smoke pouring out of the second and third floors.
According to the Laconia Citizen, one tenant, Jeff Cote, said he was in the basement when the fire broke out and immediately called 911.
"To the best of my knowledge, nobody was hurt and everybody got out of the building OK," Cote told the Citizen.
The building has five apartments ranging in size from one bedroom to three bedrooms. The Red Cross reported it is helping two families displaced by the fire.
Cote said eight people live in the apartments, which are owned by Lee Englehart.
Initial estimates put the damage from the fire at $100,000 in losses to the building and building contents.
Firefighters said the cause remains under investigation last night.
