VIDEO/PHOTOS: Concord fire and rescue teams extinguished a fire at the historic Boston & Maine signal tower near the Water Street Bridge on Sunday night. Just after 10:15 p.m., police dispatchers began receiving calls about a fire around CVS on Hall Street. The first caller did not know the exact location of the fire but said it might be near Sanelโs, on the other side of the railroad tracks, and the flames appeared to be getting โquite large.โ Capital Region Fire Dispatch also received reports the fire was between South Main and Water streets. โIโve taken a couple of calls, reporting a fire,โ dispatch said. โSome said itโs a building; some said itโs a shed.โ The callers also referenced the fire was seen from the area near the New Hampshire GOP Headquarters. The first officer heading to the area confirmed a significant amount of smoke and stated they believed it was emanating from the vicinity of the signal tower. They confirmed it was the signal tower, right near a massive homeless camp underneath the Water Street Bridge, that was on fire a few seconds later. โItโs probably going to go up pretty fast,โ the officer said, while trying to shut down the southbound side of Water Street.
When firefighters arrived at Water Street, they realized they had to tackle the fire from Gas Street instead. โThereโs a pretty good fire in the basement level,โ the commander said. The commander instructed firefighters to be cautious since the last time they were in the building, it had contained propane tanks. They also requested contacting the railroad company about the fire and fire prevention. The fire was knocked down and firefighters cleared the scene around 10:45 p.m.
