BY LAUREN SAUSSER
If it wasn’t for two insistent boxers, Hooksett resident Edmond Nadeau is convinced he would have died in the fire that consumed his house on Friday, Dec. 5.
Luckily for him, it was the dogs, named Mooshu and Kiara, that nudged him awake from the first-floor room where he had been sleeping, giving Nadeau just enough time to grab the phone and the dogs and run outside.
“I thought it was a dream, and then it hit me,” said Nadeau, 52, of 26 Granite St. “I’m not dreaming. This is really happening!”
As of the day of the fire, officials had yet to determine the cause of the blaze that started at about 8:35 a.m. Nadeau suspects the fire originated from the firstfloor wood stove. Deputy Fire Chief Michael Hoisington said the house, which was converted in the 1940s from an old wooden barn, was all but completely destroyed.
Hoisington was one of dozens of firefighters who responded to the house fire that quickly rose to two alarms, bringing fire units from Allenstown, Auburn, Bow, Candia, Chichester, Concord, Epsom, Goffstown, Manchester and Pembroke. Loudon and Derry officials covered the Hooksett fire stations during that fire.
Nadeau estimates the original structure was built sometime in the 19th century. The family had the chimney, which was attached to the wood stove, cleaned and repaired in early September.
“I’m devastated,” said Nadeau, who has lived in the home his entire life. “It was so old. It’s one of the oldest houses in the neighborhood. I grew up there.”
Also upsetting, he said, is the likely reality that the family’s cat did not make it out alive.
Nadeau was the only person in the house at the time of the fire. He said his sister and niece, who also lived at the Granite Street home, were not present when the fire broke out. His sister, Claudette Nadeau, had left to take her daughter to school, he said. The family will temporarily stay with Edmond and Claudette’s mother in Bedford, he said.
Two other fires The fire on Granite Street was the third residential fire that Hooksett safety officials responded to within a week.
On Dec. 2, a portion of a duplex located at 60A Dale St. was burned in a fire that originated in the basement. An unidentified man who lived next to the burning residence was brought to the hospital to be treated for smoke inhalation.
According to fire officials, who did not know the patient’s name, the man was soon released.
In a separate incident on Dec. 3, firefighters from several surrounding towns assisted the Hooksett team in extinguishing a house fire at 18 Scott Ave. that started when homeowner Jay Jennato dumped hot ashes from a wood-burning fireplace in the back yard. The ashes had smoldered for several hours and eventually caught fire. The flames crept up the back corner of the house and damaged a portion of the interior. No one was injured in the accident.