CONWAY, New Hampshire — The Red Jacket Mountain View Resort remains closed indefinitely after a fire on Sunday destroyed part of the building. The investigation into the cause of the fire is ongoing.
New Hampshire State Fire Marshal Sean Toomey said in a release Tuesday that the scene examination portion of the fire investigation was completed late Sunday afternoon. As of Tuesday, investigators were continuing to follow up on interviews with guests and witnesses.
Crews from 28 agencies across New Hampshire worked for about 12 hours to put out the flames. All 155 guests who were staying at the hotel at the time were accounted for by Sunday afternoon, officials said at a news conference.
Investigative work is projected to continue over the coming weeks, including gathering information specific to the timeline and sequence of operations of the fire alarm system components, according to Toomey.
"Investigators have been able to verify that the guest rooms were equipped with local, hardwired smoke alarms with battery back-up, in addition to a fire alarm system heat detector," Toomey said. "The smoke alarms were designed to sound only in the individual guest rooms, once activated. The heat detector would set off the building fire alarm system, once activated."
The hotel's main hallways were equipped with smoke detectors and alarms, officials said, but the building's south wing lacked a complete automatic sprinkler system.
Toomey said the lack of an automatic sprinkler system in the south wing was not a violation of code because, according to New Hampshire State Fire Code, existing non-high-rise hotels in the state that were built before 1991 are not required to have automatic sprinkler systems. The Red Jacket Mountain View Resort's south wing was built in the 1970s.
"The Office of the State Fire Marshal would advocate for owners to consider automatic sprinkler systems as part of capital projects," Toomey added.
Officials ask that anyone with information about the fire contact the Office of the State Fire Marshal at 603-223-4289.
When fire officials first arrived at the resort on Sunday, they saw heavy smoke coming from the third floor's south wing area of the building, according to the release. They also reported seeing guests attempt to escape the fire by jumping out of upper-level to lower-level balconies.
Two firefighters suffered injuries not considered life-threatening, North Conway Fire Chief Pat Preece said Sunday. They were treated at the scene and then taken to Memorial Hospital as a precaution. Two guests were also taken to the hospital as a precaution for reasons unrelated to the fire, according to Preece.