The Mansion Inn
9 South Main Street
New Hope, PA
November 11, 2010

photos by Gordon Nieburg
Kitchen fire at Mansion Inn, New Hope; no injuries reported

Bucks Local News on line
Published: Friday, November 12, 2010
By Charlie Sahner; Correspondent

Firefighters began returning to their station houses at about 1:30 a.m. Friday morning after responding to a kitchen fire that began shortly after 11 p.m. Thursday night at the Mansion Inn, 19 S. Main St.

No injuries were reported, confirmed a New Hope Police official.

Smoke billowed from the main floor of the building and poured out from two upper floors.

Friday morning, the beautiful structure stood quietly, almost unfazed, judging from the street view. Soot could be seen near window ledges, and small puddles of water remained outside. The kitchen appeared to be completely destroyed.

One individual who had viewed the post-fire interior said that the effect of smoke on the inn's other interior sections including upper rooms looked like it could be remediated quickly using insurance proceeds. But the kitchen potentially being out of commission for the Thanksgiving season would be problematic for the popular New Hope establishment.

Blaze forces guests from historic inn
Times of Trenton Regional News
Saturday, November 13, 2010
Alex Zdan
STAFF WRITER

NEW HOPE, Pa. -- A fire in the kitchen of the Mansion Inn Thursday night forced six guests from the bed and breakfast but did no major damage to the historic structure, fire officials said.
Fire damage was limited to the kitchen, which is inside an addition built behind the inn, New Hope Eagle Fire Co. Chief Craig Forbes said.

"The structure itself is in very, very good shape," he said. The inn, a Baroque Victorian Architecture specimen built in 1865, did sustain minor smoke damage throughout, Forbes said. "They've got a little work to do to repair from the smoke damage," he said. "The building was (filled) with smoke."

No injuries were reported. Guests had to leave the building for the night but were put up in a nearby hotel by the inn's management, Forbes said. Fire marshals are investigating the cause of the blaze, but it does not appear to be suspicious in nature, he said.

The one-alarm blaze brought out firefighters from New Hope; Lahaska, Pa.; Lambertville; and Stockton, according to Forbes. Crews stretched three hoses inside the kitchen to make an interior attack and beat back the flames. The fire was under control after about half an hour, he said. Heat from the flames broke one window, which firefighters boarded up before leaving the scene.
Contact Alex Zdan at azdan@njtimes.com or (609) 989-5705.