Overview
- The Dive, a two-story floating bar and restaurant, was engulfed and destroyed in a blaze that broke out on Saturday, with social media photos and video showing heavy smoke and wreckage.
- No injuries were reported and every person aboard escaped, the owners said, after firefighters fought the fire from fire boats and bystanders jumped in to help with extinguishers.
- The New Hampshire State Fire Marshal’s Office opened an origin-and-cause investigation and officials have not yet identified what sparked the fire.
- Owners Jamie Merriam and Betsy Sullivan described the loss as devastating, thanked first responders and the community, and have not announced whether they will rebuild or relocate.
- The Dive opened in 2018 and had become a popular seasonal lakeside destination, and its destruction raises immediate questions about insurance, permitting and the local boating-season economy.