Jul. 28—DERRY, N.H. — Casey Bzdak was busy working on the third floor at Overlook Medical Park when the alarms went off.
Bzdak, who works in the billing office for Southern New Hampshire Internal Medicine Associates, first thought it was a routine fire drill, but once she and other staff members started to file outside, she saw the flames.
Fire broke out Wednesday afternoon after 3 p.m. and caused significant damage to the busy Derry medical facility at 6 Tsienneto Road.
The building is home to a myriad of medical offices and practices including Spindel Eye Associates, Derry Imaging, DMC Primary Care, Quest Diagnostics and many more medical specialities.
The multi-alarm fire drew response from numerous area departments along with Derry, including Manchester, Salem, Auburn, Hudson, and Hampstead.
Upon arrival, firefighters found smoke and flames shooting up the front of the three-story building, which has a lot of glass windows and metal framework as part of its design.
The building was evacuated quickly.
One man in a wheelchair was seen being pushed along Tsienneto Road to get away from the scene.
Bzdak said many people moved down the stairwells to get out, some moving slower than others due to medical reasons.
She said her own office has about 30 employees but hundreds were most likely in the building at that time.
Once outside, she saw the flames
"The entire front of the building was on fire," Bzdak said.
Residents living in nearby apartment complexes lined Tsienneto Road, watching the fire.
One local woman handed a pack of water bottles to a firefighter.
Wanting to remain anonymous, she said she was a registered nurse and once worked in the building.
"It's really sad," she said. "I know people who work in there now."
Others snapped photos and watched for hours.
Once the flames were out, crews continued to gauge the damage and look for hot spots.
Several firefighters climbed up an aerial ladder to the top floor to saw through metal sheets to get inside the structure.
The sounds of sawing was loud as crews continued to work their way inside as small puffs of smoke continued to emerge from the building.
Windows were also shattered as part of the investigation.
For Bzdak, the building is full of people either working there or needing medical services.
"This is our hub," she said, adding her own office and some others had recently undergone some major upgrades and renovations, including new rugs, artwork and other improvements.
With the sprinklers going off, she wondered what could be salvaged.
She also wondered how long it would be before anyone could return there.
Some medical offices were already working to re-route patients to other locations.
That included DMC Primary Care, announcing on social media that the 6 Tsienneto Road location will be closed for the next several days and providers will see patients at other practice locations.
"We are not canceling appointments, just re-routing them to another location," the post read.
By about 6 p.m., crews were still on scene. Tsienneto Road was closed several hours between North Main and Pinkerton streets.
According to Derry Fire Chief James Richardson, although the cause was unknown, the fire could have started in some mulch at the front of the building near an external tower area.
Richardson called the fire an intense use of manpower as the building was "open for business" when the fire broke out.
The chief added no civilians were injured, but one firefighter sustained smoke inhalation and was treated at a local hospital.
The fire remains under investigation.
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