What's burning?
 

Lots of smoke and visible flames across the Broads from Tuftonboro Neck.
Prayers for all involved.

Watching it from Welch island now... very close to the Belknap Point Motel office building... Can't be sure exactly where though... Huge fire however and was put under control in minutes but has to be a total loss...

Hope there are no injuries.

Not good!

Dan

Black smoke
 

The Union Leader picked this up immediately, new house burned. I could see the black smoke from the GI bridge. I think the house was insulated with foam, black, black smoke, bad news when it burns and extremely toxic.

Link to UL Story
 

http://www.unionleader.com/article.a...4-ed5ee21dd663

GILFORD – A three-alarm fire tonight destroyed a newly constructed house near the Belknap Point Motel overlooking Lake Winnipesaukee, a neighbor said.
"The flames are as high as the trees and the trees are pretty high," said motel co-owner Elaine Blinn. "There's flames shooting out of every window."
The blaze was two houses away from the hotel on Belknap Point Road, she said.
The 16-room hotel was nearly booked and guests were "all standing on our porch watching" the blaze, she said.
Fire trucks were stationed between the hotel and the fire, which Blinn estimated was less than a half a football field away.

Firefighters responded and immediately called for a second alarm. A third alarm was toned out soon after. It was tough to listen to the dispatcher calling for so much apparatus and knowing this was a huge fire so close to a beloved Landmark. My thoughts are with the owners of the home. So sad.

That was a beautiful new house on the inland side of the road with waterfront across the street. I believe it was still under construction with interior finishing in process. It was a custom design on the hill side, clearly a lot of thought and $$ had gone into it. Sad

Very spooky. Dumb luck as we were headed home this evening. The first home fire I have seen before the fire dept got there. Smoke turned black quickly once the hoses went on. Very sorry for the home owner.

That was a very large house under construction, in a location carved into a steep hillside, and perched high across a small road overlooking the lake and mountains. It was a mcmansion type of a house.

For a homeowner in this situation, when working with your insurance company to recover your losses from the fire, are you better off hiring a private insurance adjuster to represent yourself or dealing yourself direct with your insurance company? Any thoughts and suggestions?

The Insurance adjusters job is to protect the insurance company

Wow!
 

Thanks for the pictures, Damdonzi. The Belknap Point Motel is where we spend part of the time when we are up there. VERY relieved to see that it's OK...but, I echo you...VERY sorry for the owner of the home burned. I walked by it this summer and could see it was going to be quite the place. The newspaper article in the Citizen said it is partially structurally sound still...but, just a devastation to the owner anyway! Sad, indeed.

FLL,
I am surprised to hear you call a single, custom built home that looks like it was lovingly built into a heavily treed lot without devastating the character of the shore line by the pejorative term of "McMansion". I would think this would be the exact opposite. IMO.

After photo
 

It looks like the lowest level can be salvaged but I don't know about the rest. As I said earlier it was shaping up to be a beautiful home.

I would guess that the first thing that the fire dept will check for is the presence of a propane space heater as work was still going on.

Yes, that's very true, but a homeowner can also hire their own insurance adjuster to represent their interest so it would be one homeowner adjuster vs the other insurance company adjuster. Looking at a fire related insurance claim, it can probably be very complex with all sorts or building code rules that apply. As a homeowner, am I capable of representing myself or am I better off hiring an insurance adjuster?

In the two cases we've had where we had to work with our insurance company's adjuster we found them to be very fair, thorough, and had a positive experience. We were allowed to dispute their findings and even request the claim to be re-opened once it was settled.

However, we documented everything, saved every receipt, letter, and form we we received, read the fine print, and asked a lot of questions. It's hard to keep track of everything you're being told when you're stressed out by a major issue with your home. I'd imagine the insurance adjusters have a very difficult job.

Yes, adjusters have to protect the insurance company but the insurance companies also want to keep their customers.

I feel bad for anyone who loses their home to a fire.... as dry as things have been lately, it's amazing that this didn't spread into the woods more. Kudos to the local fire departments for keeping this one contained!

WOW! the firefighters made one hell of a stop! I tip my hat to them for the stop. The location of the home and type of fire load they had tells me that they had their hands full from the start. Great job!

I agree 100%! After seeing the size of the fire from my place on Welch then driving by it this morning on our way to work, I couldn't believe anything was left standing. They did a heck of a job getting it under control quickly and at least partially saving it.

Kudos to the G.F.D.!!

Dan

We took a ride there after the sixth or seven fire engine went by. We parked in front Belknap Point Motel and walked in.

From the rear we could see right in the third story windows during the fire. My bet is that they will have to knock the whole place down. The fire was well up into the roof framing and the metal roof is obviously heat damaged. The second floor is at grade level in the back and water was pouring out six inches deep. My guess is the only salvagable part is the foundation and maybe those stone supports in the front.

We went by the front of the house on Sunday by car and then by boat. Too bad it burned, as it looked very nice and pretty well set into the landscape, they left a ton of trees on the water side of Scenic Drive.

Does anyone know who the builder or the owner are? Lot's of people at the fire had opinions on the cause, I will not repeat them.

Thankfully no one was hurt.

I know exactly where that is. We often take the scenic route from Alton to the Weirs and go past that location. I recognize the house on the other side of the road, the one with the stones on the bottom level. I even have a postcard of that house since it has the name that is the same as my last name.

I hate to hear these stories. Happens far to often during construction and renovation. There is a house near me here in Jersey that burned - twice - during renovation. How heartbreaking for the owners.

nj2nh

Back Story
 

The boss, AKA "she who must be obeyed" is friends with the folks that own Belknap Point. Story is, one of the guests at BP was a fireman, he was out on the deck and spotted it as soon as it started. The hotel quickly contacted the Gilford FD and they were on scene very quickly.

From the pics, it looks like the home owner was actually very lucky he spotted it. If this was football... they held that fire to a field goal. :)

Cheers :cheers: to all the firemen that protect us, on duty and off. It went to three alarms and fire companies responded from as far away as Holderness.

For all the complaining about proerty taxes I'm glad I don't have to worry about that clown that let that guys house burn down and kill his pets over a missed $75 fee. ( Yes I know, most of the firemen wanted to help, but were ordered to stand down.) This is just a statement not a rant.

Today's Citizen:

"MAKING a Property Expensive"...
 

1) You can't build a concrete foundation across the roots of existing trees. (The trees will eventually fail in some manner.)

2) It's "heavily-treed" today, but over time, trees are gradually trimmed and later cut down. Subsequent owners can have conflicting ideas of the value of their trees. :rolleye1:

3) A property that ends up "treeless" is the inevitable consequence of concrete versus Mother Nature. :(

4) It's also a very tall structure, which helps to feed oxygen to a house-fire. :eek2:

5) It lies 800' from the actual shoreline and is still valued at $1,000,000. :confused:

6) To add a multiplier to one's dollar-investment, I regretfully understand the logic of "making-a-property-expensive". :rolleye2:

It could have been designed to be far less intrusive to avoid the pejorative of McMansion.

IMHO.

1) Structure height increases the intensity and damage of fire: Extreme heat in a fire damages even steel, stone, brick, mortar, stucco and concrete blocks.

2) I agree this could very well be "totaled". (Although a reconstruction near me was built on a foundation that was already sliding towards the lake—and was stuccoed into a "sorta-upright" position.) :eek2:

3) Those stone supports in front fairly shout "McMansion" (and the conflict of Adirondack.)

I hope they consider not replacing them.

5) It lies 800' from the actual shoreline and is still valued at $1,000,000. :confused:
[/QUOTE]

The burnt out house sits, wrapped in yellow State Fire Marshall tape, up on a steep hillside, across a two lane paved residential road, and then down to a flat woods area and lake embankment (probably all belongs to burnt out house) all heavily treed with large trees. Distance from house to water is about 120' by guess-timation. A fresh pile of loamy sand was dumped at the foot of the steep driveway probably to keep looky-loos from driving on up.

The burnt out house sits, wrapped in yellow State Fire Marshall tape, up on a steep hillside, across a two lane paved residential road, and then down to a flat woods area and lake embankment (probably all belongs to burnt out house) all heavily treed with large trees. Distance from house to water is about 120' by guess-timation. A fresh pile of loamy sand was dumped at the foot of the steep driveway probably to keep looky-loos from driving on up.[/QUOTE]

FLL that flat woods area is the old RR bed.

R-guy,don't you know that If it doesn't look like my house or my lot it is not acceptable?:D