Bagel toaster is likely cause of 3-alarm Rindge fire
By MEGHAN PIERCE
Union Leader Correspondent
RINDGE, NH – A bagel toaster is the likely cause of a three-alarm fire Friday morning on Forristall Road.
Firefighters responded to the reported fire at 8:17 a.m. There were no injuries but the home was badly damaged, according to Rindge Fire Chief Rickard Donovan.
“The kitchen received heavy fire damage, the rest of the house received heavy smoke and heat damage,” he said. “We went for three alarms ‘cause we were looking for manpower and this time of day sometimes it’s hard.”
Heavy smoke was pouring from the roof and eaves of the one-story ranch when firefighters arrived, Donovan said.
The occupant, Greg Crisp, was home when the fire started. According to the chief, Crisp had put some bagels in a bagel toaster in the kitchen and then gone down to the basement to do laundry.
Five or 10 minutes later, smoke detectors in the home went off, according to Peterborough Fire Chief Ed Walker, and when Crisp came back upstairs there was smoke coming from the kitchen.
Instead of attempting to enter the kitchen to fight the fire, Crisp went to the in-law apartment first and helped his in-laws, who have mobility issues, get out of the home.
Chief Walker believes Crisp made the right call, but by the time he returned to the kitchen there was heavy fire in the kitchen.
The fire chiefs said the lesson to take away from this fire is that working smoke detectors save lives.
Walker will lead the investigation as Crisp’s wife, Kristen Crisp, is a member of the Rindge Fire Department.
But the fire was clearly accidental, Walker said, and most likely started with the bagel toaster.
The home is inhabitable and most of the couple’s belongings were destroyed, Donovan said.
The Rindge Fire Association is planning to raise funds and other donations for the family and Donovan said a GoFundMe page will likely be part of the fundraising.
Firefighters from companiues in Jaffrey, Fitzwilliam, Dublin, Troy, Peterborough and Keene assisted at the scene, along with companies from the Massachusetts towns of Winchendon, Templeton, Ashby, Ashburnham, and Phillipston. The Red Cross was called in to assist the family.