HARWICH – An automatic fire alarm system alerted firefighters to a fire at the Wequassett Inn on Route 28 in Harwich about 4:30 AM Tuesday. The fire was reported in a first floor room of the Queen Anne building. Crews checked for any fire spread to the second floor. No injuries were reported.
From Harwich Fire: At 4:30 PM AM, Harwich Fire was dispatched by the Barnstable County Sheriff’s Office Communications Center to the Wequassett Resort and Golf Club for a reported automatic fire alarm. First arriving Engine 65 had a strong odor of smoke in the area and an alarm sounding at one of the residential buildings. The Lieutenant immediately requested a forth alarm assignment which recalled al Harwich personnel as well as dispatching a lien response assignment from Brewster Fire, Chatham Fire, and Dennis Fire.
Engine 65 quickly determined that there was a fire in a heating unit in a building under renovation. An 1 3/4″ line was stretched and the fire was knocked down. A significant smoke condition in the structure was present and next arriving companies were assigned to search the building, check for extension and ventilate.
The fire was contained to a first-floor unit with extensive smoke damage throughout the structure and some water damage to a basement shop area.
The assessed value for the building was $827.600, and the damage estimate is approximately $50,000 for the structure with another $20,000 in content damage. If not for the early notification from the fire alarm system, the damage would have been significantly higher.
