Cigarette Deemed Cause of Fire at Flying Goose Restaurant

In New London, a fire at a local brewery has been blamed on improper disposal of cigarettes. The Flying Goose Pub suffered from a fire that broke out around 2:30 Friday morning, which caused minor damage to the exterior of the building. Authorities and restaurant employees say the fire started near an ashtray receptacle next to a door and may have started when a still lit butt was thrown at the ashtray but instead landed in the bark mulch surrounding the receptacle.

The butt slowly heated up the mulch and a small blaze spread to the building. Fire crews from New London, Sutton, Wilmot, Sunapee, and Springfield all responded through mutual aid after a passerby called it in.

The fire was deemed under control within 20 minutes and crews remained on scene for an hour afterwards to monitor the situation. New London Fire Chief Jay Lyons said that this early morning fire stresses the importance of not discarding cigarettes in bark mulch, as this is the 6th incident in the last few weeks.

The Flying Goose reopened this morning at their regular start time and have begun to repair the damage by replacing damaged electrical outlets.

Some siding needed to be replaced as well and there is currently an investigation into the fire.