A three-alarm fire that started from a toaster damaged a Rindge home and displaced six people Friday.
Gregg Crisp was doing laundry in the basement of his home at 501 Forristall Road when he heard a smoke detector beeping from the kitchen above, according to Peterborough Fire Chief Ed Walker, who is handling the investigation because Crisp’s wife, Kristen, is a volunteer firefighter for Rindge. Crisp was toasting a bagel and the toaster caught fire, Walker said.
Crisp couldn’t tell where the smoke was coming from, so went to the other end of the multi-family home where his elderly in-laws (his mother-in-law uses a walker) were staying to help them escape as the fire spread in the kitchen.
“I think he did the right thing,” Walker said. “Even for us, the priority is always life safety.”
On Friday, Gregg and Kristen Crisp said they were OK and everybody made it out safely.
Twelve fire departments including Rindge, Jaffrey, Dublin and New Ipswich and three from Massachusetts responded to the home which is located about 100 feet from the Massachusetts border. After receiving the call around 8:15 a.m., firefighters were able to knock the fire down around 9:10 a.m., but not before it gutted the middle of the two-family home. The rest of the house suffered significant smoke damage, Walker said.
Rindge Fire Chief Rick Donovan put out a release Friday recommending that residents close all interior doors to minimize smoke damage and the spread of fire. The release also mentioned the importance of the Crisp family’s working smoke detectors.
Crisp, who was meeting with contractors Monday, told the Ledger-Transcript in a telephone interview that the fire was “the most stressful thing I’ve been through.”
The Crisp family is staying at a local hotel until they find a rental home.
After the fire, the Rindge Congregational Church posted a link on its website, rindgeucc.org, asking for donations for the Crisp family. This is the first time in Pastor Dave Jadlocki’s five-year tenure that the church has organized donations online.
Jadlocki, who serves as the chaplain for the Rindge Fire Department and said he’s known Kristen Crisp since he started as chaplain four-and-a-half years ago, was at the fire Friday and volunteered the church for the service.
“We’re really pleased with the initial response,” said Jadlocki of the donations.
Crisp, who owns 2nd Wind Sports, a sporting goods store in Keene, bought the multi-family home 3-4 years ago. Kristen’s parents moved in the next spring so that Kristen, Gregg and their two sons (ages 16 and 13) could take care of them.
On his Facebook page Saturday, Crisp thanked people who volunteered to secure his home after the fire and those who gave him clothing and support.
“ I knew we lived in a good community — been a part of it long enough to know that it’s good,” Crisp said. “But it’s been really overwhelming — the support from our friends and all the people in the area.”