May 9th, 2022
The Red Jacket Mountain View resort, a historic resort in New Hampshire, faces severe damage from a large fire on April 30th. Located at 2251 White Mountain Highway in North Conway, NH, the 51 year old building boasted 150 rooms, and an indoor waterpark on the same property.
Due to the fire, at least a third of the building has been tagged as a total loss, with the entire south wing of 75 rooms now collapsed. The fire was so hot and quick that it breached three fire walls and entered into the central part of the building which now mostly faces limited water damage. The resort had hardwired smoke alarms and heat sensors, but no automatic sprinklers in the south wing, citing a New Hampshire law which does not require automatic sprinkler systems in non high rise buildings built before 1990. Firefighters say that strong winds that day fanned the flames even more.
A total of 20 fire teams came together to stomp out the flames and ensure guests made it out safely. Two guests faced injuries unrelated to the fire. Visitors were bussed to nearby hotels around the state. The resort is a big tourism draw for the entire town of North Conway, and locals are trying to grasp how this may impact their economy going forward. The Red Jacket Mountain View Resort will be closed for at least the rest of 2022, but are hopeful to “rise again from the ashes” as their roadside sign says.
There are thousands of buildings in the United States built prior to requiring automatic sprinkler protection. However, there is a financial incentive for building owners to install automatic sprinklers, as this drastically improves the protection of buildings as well as minimize the potential loss of life. Contact Risk Logic for a full detailed Property Risk Inspection. We can help identify potential hazards and assess the adequacy of a building’s fire prevention and sprinkler systems that can help in avoiding incidents like these in the future