Fire 'Pretty Much' Guts Apartment Above Gymnastics Facility

An early morning working fire severely damaged an apartment on the second story of the New Hampshire Academy of Artistic Gymnastics building on Winnicut Road in North Hampton Tuesday.

Fire Lt. Brad Hutchings said "heavy fire" was reported in the apartment at 67 Winnicut Road at 4:58 a.m. by residents within the home. No one as injured and the residents were able to make it out on their own, although Hutchings said the apartment will be unlivable for the foreseeable future.

"It looks like it pretty much gutted it, I guess," said Hutchings. 

Several mutual aid companies responded to assist North Hampton in fighting the fire, which was knocked down in a little over 30 minutes despite the fact that it was a frigid 4 degrees outside when firefighters arrived on scene.

"It was pretty darn brutal," said Hutchings, who also said the North Hampton Public Works Department was called in to salt the roadway because water from the hoses quickly froze on the ground. "The hydrant worked pretty well, and Hampton laid the hose for us. After that it didn't appear to be a problem. I'm sure it's an icy mess now, but it didn't prohibit us or hurt us in any way initially." 

The cause of the fire and room in which the fire started wasn't immediately known Tuesday morning. The extent of the damage to NHAAG also wasn't known, although Hutchings said the academy will "probably" be closed Tuesday.

There were flames and smoke visible when crews arrived on scene. Hutchings said the heavy fire was knocked down by 5:38 a.m., and it was under control at 6:11 a.m. Most of the companies cleared the scene by 6:45 a.m.

In addition to North Hampton and Hampton, Portsmouth, Exeter, Greenland, Stratham, Hampton Falls and Rye all responded to the mutual aid call. Seabrook provided station coverage.

Winnicut Road was closed while firefighters were on scene, and it was unclear at 9 a.m. if the road had reopened.