On Friday morning, February 26, 2010 shortly after midnight during a feirce rain and wind storm the Surf Hotel and an entire city block in Hampton, NH caught fire. The blaze took six hours to get under control, burning the entire block to the ground. In addition to the Surf Hotel, Happy Hampton Arcade, Mrs. Mitchell's Gift Shop and 2 other businesses on the block were completely destroyed. Due to the quick aid of several New Hampshire fire departments the fire did not spread despite the strong winds that fueled the fire all night. Luckly, there were no life threatening injuries because the area remains mostly empty during the winter off season.
The cause of the fire will still take several days to determine. Currently, their has been no word as to the rebuilding of the hotel or any of the other businesses on the block.
The Hampshire Inn and Conference Center in Seabrook, NH will honor any reservations made at the Surf Hotel for the summer season. Any guest interested in making a reservation should call the hotel directly at (603) 474-5700. Since the Hampshire Inn is not on the beach the room rates will be significantly less than the Surf Hotel. The money saved on room rates can more than make up for the parking fees in Hampton Beach.
All of the staff at the Hampshire Inn and Conference Center wish the best for the staff and owners of all of the businesses effected by the storm and fire. We would also like to express our sincere appreciation for the excellent work done by the Fire Departments from Hampton, Portsmouth, Dover, Salisbury, MA and Kittery, ME. In addition to the Fire Departments we would like to thank the many workers from throughout the region that helped restore power to our community. At the hotel we lost power for less than 18 hours so many local residents were able to stay with us while power was being restored to their homes.
