Hampton Beach July 4 weekend: Fire at Ships Inn doused; police make 76 arrests

HAMPTON — A morning fire July 5 kept crews from Hampton and surrounding communities busy, after flames broke through the roof of one of the Ships Inn buildings.

According to Hampton Fire Chief Mike McMahon, the department responded at 6:10 a.m. following calls of both smoke and fire showing from the roof of the four-room unit in one of the buildings that make up the Ships Inn hotel complex. Thankfully, he said, the hotel room was vacant and the business’s alarm system worked correctly, alerting guests before crews arrived.

“When we got there, they were self-evacuating,” McMahon said. “The fire started in the ceiling and extended through the roof. It was in the building at 8 B Street. The Ships Inn has buildings at several locations.”

McMahon said the structure has four units on the second floor with parking beneath. It’s connected to another Ships Inn property that has 30 rooms, he said, and the alarm system is connected as well, so guests staying at the larger facility also evacuated.

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“It took about an hour to get the fire under control,” McMahon said. “There were no injuries. We had extra staff on because of the Fourth of July weekend. It could’ve been worse.”

McMahon said the cause of the fire is still under investigation, but he estimated the damage could run about $200,000. Although the four-unit building where the fire originated is closed until further notice, McMahon said, the department worked with utilities to keep the larger connected 30-room structure open for present and future guests.

“It’s a new owner, Triple A Realty LLC,” McMahon said. “They just bought it in March. They own a number of hotel buildings at the beach. I’m sure they’ll work with guests and find accommodations for them.”

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McMahon thanked firefighting and emergency crews from a number of nearby communities who responded to the mutual aid call for the beach district fire. They included North Hampton, Seabrook, Exeter, Portsmouth, Hampton Falls, East Kingston, Greenland, Rye and Amesbury, Massachusetts. Some reported directly to the fire scene, he said, and others provided station and ambulance coverage.

Firefighters called dozens of times

Aside from the fire, McMahon said it was a busy weekend for Hampton firefighters with 84 calls for service in four days, about double the department’s normal number.

“The majority of our calls are medical,” McMahon said. “But we had one marine rescue and we responded to mutual aid for a fire in Portsmouth on Friday.”

Aside from Tuesday’s fire scare, Hampton Beach had a great weekend, according to Selectman and Beach businessman Chuck Rage.

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Majority of Hampton police arrests were alcohol-related

Police said things went well, given the crowds who were back enjoying the beach, great weather and activities Hampton Beach offers.

“We had a lot of families here who were enjoying the beach,” said Hampton Police Deputy Chief Alex Reno. “Overall people were respectful and in good spirits. People were not out to cause mischief. There were no major incidents.”

He said officers responded to five calls over the weekend related to domestic violence. And there were incidents of people drinking too much, which led to fighting-related arrests, as well as five drunken-driving arrests. Others were taken into protective custody due to their level of intoxication, he said.

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Reno said police answered 599 calls for service from July 1 through the early hours of July 5, with 149 motor vehicle stops and 76 total arrests, not a remarkable number given the crowd over a long holiday weekend. Fifty-seven of those arrests were alcohol-related, he said.

According to Reno, except for a few incidents after the Fourth of July fireworks, police were able to keep the substantial amount of traffic moving for the most part, using the special traffic pattern the department established for the holiday.

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A few snags came clearing the beach center after the fireworks display, he said, when some motorists decided to follow their GPS instead of following Hampton police's traffic pattern. There were a few fender benders, he said, mostly involving drivers whose patience wore thin trying to get out of beach parking lots. Once officers untied those knots, Reno said, the beach center cleared by about 11:30 p.m.

All in all, Reno said, the holiday weekend passed successfully, thanks to the efforts of a large force of officers from Hampton and other departments who lent a hand, as well as cooperation from the public.

This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Hampton Beach July 4 weekend: 76 arrests, fire at Ships Inn