One person, 13 birds rescued from Rochester home fire

ROCHESTER — Firefighters rescued a resident and 13 birds from a blaze Thursday that destroyed a home at 23 Limestone Lane, according to Fire Chief Dennis Dube.

Dube said extreme hot weather definitely made it difficult to bring the fire under control and execute the rescues.

"Firefighters were faced with extremely hot conditions with the heat index over 100 degrees, as well as a broken fire hydrant," Dube said. "There was major fire damage to the roof structure as well as water and ceiling damage throughout."

There were no injuries, the chief said. "The birds were located in a room with a door closed, which protected them from the smoke. All are well."

The fire was reported at 3:46 p.m. June 20. Crews arrived to find a working fire in the roof space of a double-wide mobile home, with one person on the roof, attempting to extinguish the fire and another person still in the building, attempting to salvage belongings. The scene was cleared at 5:13 p.m., Dube said.

After an initial investigation, Dube said, it appears the fire origin was near the area above a ceiling fan in the roof space.

The Rochester Fire Department was assisted by Frisbie EMS, Rochester police, the Somersworth and Farmington fire departments at the scene. The Dover Fire Department and off-duty Rochester firefighters provided station coverage.

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This article originally appeared on Fosters Daily Democrat: One person, 13 birds rescued from Rochester, NH home fire