State Fire Marshal’s Office Updates Investigation of North Conway Hotel Fire

North Conway, New Hampshire – State Fire Marshal Sean P. Toomey announces that the fire investigation at the Red Jacket Mountain View Resort on White Mountain Highway in North Conway has been completed.

On April 30, 2022, the Office of the State Fire Marshal was contacted by the North Conway Fire Department to assist with the investigation of the multi-alarm fire. After conducting a scene examination and following-up on interviews with guests and witnesses, the cause of the fire has been listed as undetermined. An undetermined cause classification means that the cause of the fire could not be proven to an acceptable level of certainty. However, there was no evidence or information that led investigators to believe that a crime had been committed.

The Office of the State Fire Marshal has received many inquiries on the fire protection systems in the hotel.

• Investigators were 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.
• 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 main hallways of the hotel were equipped with fire alarm system smoke detectors and alarm notification devices (horn/strobes).
• The south wing of the hotel lacked a complete automatic sprinkler system. The New Hampshire State Fire Code, defined in RSA 153, includes the Life Safety Code, NFPA 101, 2015 edition. Under the current statute, existing hotel occupancies that are not considered a high-rise are not required to have an automatic sprinkler system. Automatic sprinkler systems in new hotels became a fire code requirement in 1991 for buildings that are not high-rises.

No further information will be released at this time. Anyone with information regarding the fire is asked to contact the Office of the State Fire Marshal at (603) 223-4289.