Manchester, New Hampshire – A power outage in downtown Manchester led to a generator malfunction at the Brady Sullivan Tower on Elm Street, resulting in a small fire that forced the building’s evacuation.
Fire crews responded to the scene after reports of a fire on the 21st floor, where they discovered a generator malfuncion had caused a small fire fueled by oil. Firefighters had to climb 21 flights of stairs with high-rise hose packs to reach the fire, with one crew member requiring hospitalization due to lightheadedness.
A second alarm was requested for additional support as crews worked to extinguish the fire and ventilate the building from the smoke. The building, which houses luxury apartments and offices, was occupied by over 200 people at the time of the incident.
The power outage, caused by a piece of electrical equipment failure in the area, affected around 600 customers in buildings such as the Brady Sullivan Plaza, Wall Street Tower, and the Mental Health Center of Greater Manchester. Emergency services worked quickly to restore power to most customers within five minutes.
Firefighters were able to bring the fire under control in about an hour, and occupants were allowed to re-enter the building, although the elevators were not operational. The scene was eventually cleared, with the building turned back over to Brady Sullivan for further assessment and repairs. Eversource continued to work on restoring power to the building after the incident.