Jan 5, 2008 5:59 pm US/Eastern
Fire Strikes At NH Campaign Volunteers Inn
NASHUA, N.H. (AP) ―
It probably couldn't have happened at a worse time.
Fire rousted a number of campaign volunteers from their hotel beds in Nashua, New Hampshire, Saturday morning.
The set back comes just a couple of days before New Hampshire's first in the country presidential primary.
The fire hit the Best Western Granite Inn in Nashua just before 10am.
An entire wing of the hotel, 30 rooms caught fire or suffered smoke and water damage.
Nashua Fire Chief Daniel Cronin, says the fire appeared to have started near a mechanical room at the motel and quickly spread. "The company entered inside and found fire on the first floor mechanical room extended to the second floor and floor parallel to it."
The cause of the fire is under investigation.
One firefighter was treated and released for smoke inhalation; no one else was hurt.
But many people staying here weren't worried so much about the damage as they were about the timing of the fire.
Scores of Hillary Rodham Clinton's New Hampshire volunteers are among those looking for another place to stay. WBZ spoke to volunteers from both John Edwards and Rudy Giuliani's campaign that were affected as well.
"The worst part actually is its interfering with campaign. So I mean I'm worried about my stuff, but I want to get out there you know, and canvas and try to get as much support three days from primary," said John Edwards campaign volunteer, Matthew Perlegis.
Matthew is among a group of student volunteers from Florida in New Hampshire to work on 11 different campaigns. With a few days left before voters head to the polls in the primary, volunteers say there is no time for this inconvenience.
It's not just the students, a large group of volunteers from Arkansas helping the Clinton camp was staying at the inn as well; and they too are out of luck.
"Its very bad timing makes it difficult to find hotel rooms. We are here until Wednesday. So once we regroup and figure out next step in terms of that," says campaign volunteer Ramsay McLauchlan.
So while firefighters battled the blaze, many of the volunteers were instead out canvassing the neighborhood looking for votes.
Just another lesson on the road to the White House, and admittedly they can't wait to share it.
"Its gonna be a fun story to blog about," says Perlegis.
(© 2008 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
