As I mentioned in my blog about the fire in Epsom.
They are now calling this suspicious.
Pretty scary to have this happen in our neighborhood.



Concord FIre Department
Concord firefighters battle a barn fire in Epsom on Monday night
Officials are saying a four-alarm fire at an Epsom storage barn that closed down part of Route 4 on Monday night is suspicious.

Firefighters from 14 towns responded to the corner of Route 4 and Goboro Road, less than a mile from the Epsom traffic circle, after a call came in at about 7:30, said Epsom Fire Chief Stewart Yeaton. It took about six hours to control the fire, forcing part of Route 4 to be shut down until about 1:30 a.m. There were no injuries.

The three-story, mid-1800s barn is owned by building contractor David Mihachik of Epsom, who rented out about six storage spaces to small-business owners, Yeaton said. The state fire marshal's office is investigating the blaze. Deputy Fire Marshal Robert Farley said yesterday that the fire started in an area of the barn that doesn't have electricity. Accidental causes, like cooking, smoking and lightning, were also ruled out after preliminary investigations yesterday, Yeaton said.

Although the barn's structure is salvageable, Yeaton said, the fire tore through the top floor of the structure and destroyed most of the roof. He said four fire hoses were pumping about 4,500 gallons of water a minute onto the blaze. Firefighters drew water from the Suncook River nearby.

"It's just amazing at what we saved and how we saved it," Yeaton said.

Nearly everything inside the building was destroyed, mostly by smoke and water damage, he said. All the business owners renting storage in the barn were notified last night.

Bill Murphy, owner of Dollar Plus along the Epsom traffic circle, called it a total loss. He said he was renting the largest space in the barn and doesn't have insurance. He owns other dollar stores across the state and said this is the only storage facility he hadn't insured.

"It's dead storage. You never think it'll happen," Murphy said. "I lost everything; all my Christmas and Halloween stock, everything I was going to sell at the Deerfield Fair. . . . It's all gone."

The barn is behind a large model of a Trojan horse and next door to the Sherwood Inn, which is closed for renovations. Yeaton said the barn was nearly old enough to be considered a historic structure and formerly housed a Chevrolet dealership and a farm.