Haverhill, Plaistow Fire Depts. Assist at Amesbury Blaze

The home at 82 Congress St., Amesbury, is currently uninhabitable. (Courtesy photograph.)

Firefighters from 12 communities, including Haverhill and Plaistow, N.H., assisted Amesbury fire crews in containing a three-alarm blaze at a residence there Tuesday.

A female resident at a single-family, three-story wood frame house at 82 Congress St., Amesbury, escaped the flames before local fire crews arrived on the scene of the 11:39 a.m. fire. However, she was transported by ambulance to a local hospital with non-life threatening injuries, according to Amesbury Fire Chief Kenneth E. Berkenbush. The fire was contained to the first and second floors, along with the home’s side porch. With a third alarm ordered, mutual aid from Haverhill and Plaistow and Hampton Falls, N.H., fire departments and Atlantic Ambulance, Newburyport, covered the Amesbury station. Crews from Salisbury, Newburyport, Merrimac, West Newbury, South Hampton, N.H., East Kingston, N.H., Kingston, N.H., Rye, N.H., and Exeter, N.H. assisted at the fire scene. Crews put out the fire at 12:38 p.m. Berkenbush estimated the damage to be approximately $100,000 and the home is currently uninhabitable.

“This was a large fire that required a lot of manpower,” Berkenbush said. “Thank you to our neighboring fire departments who provided assistance today, allowing us to control the fire quickly and efficiently.

Firefighters initially attempted to make an offensive interior attack, but were driven out, Berkenbush added. Crews then worked a “defensive operation” as additional manpower was called.

The cause and origin of the fire are under investigation by the Amesbury Fire Rescue Department, Amesbury Police Department and State Police assigned to the Office of the State Fire Marshal.

One thought on “Haverhill, Plaistow Fire Depts. Assist at Amesbury Blaze

  1. Enough already with the fire department self-promotion!!!
    Every time the fire department does the job they’re being paid to do a press release comes out having to inform the public about it. It’s ridiculous…
    How about some real news about the fire department?? How about a follow up article on how a couple of years ago 30 Haverhill fire fighters conspired to steal over $55,000 from city taxpayers and were allowed to keep their jobs by a corrupt mayor and none of them have made the reparations back to the city they were suppose to.