(NECN: Lauren Collins, Wakefield, NH) - You don't have to see a red flag to know conditions are ripe for brush fires. It was even windier Wednesday when one started at this campground in Wakefield, New Hampshire.
“First arriving truck on scene had multiple buildings going,” says Fire Chief Todd Nason.
Roofer Dave Elliot had left the campground around 4:30 p.m. Two hours later he was back and amazed.
“It was quite a, quite a fire.”
Firefighters and forest rangers were back on scene Thursday, but say they'll likely never know what caused the blaze that leveled or damaged six summer cabins.
It's dangerously dry in this part of the state and the wind off Lake Province is a catalyst for disaster.
“We were fighting the wind, we were dealing with multiple power lines down as well as multiple gas bottles. Propane bottles that were venting at the same time,” says Chief Nason.
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That combination made it all the more remarkable that the dozen crews fighting this fire were able to contain it.
“There's a hundred and fifty, seventy camps here. They could have lost them all,” says Elliot. “You can see the destruction. Nothing left of this. You know it was hot.”
Beverly Perkins is stunned there's not so much as a scorch mark on her family's cottage. Her neighbors aren't as lucky.
“They even saved my out house,” she says. “I'm very happy at what they've done but I'm so sorry for the rest of these people. Could have happened in the summer, when we were all here.”
