STRATHAM – Doug Scamman said he had just dropped off a friend in Newfields after carpooling to an event in Concord Monday evening, and he saw the smoke coming from the general direction of his farm driving home.
Scamman said as he drove across the Route 108 bridge connecting Newfields and Stratham over the Squamscott River, he all but knew a fire had broken out on his property.
“At first I said to myself, 'I hope it’s not my barn,'” Scamman said. “When I drove over the bridge, I could tell the smoke was coming from our farm.”
A devastating fire destroyed Scamman Farm’s four-story, 80-foot-long barn built in 1836 Monday night, and 300 of the family’s chickens perished. The fire also spread to the exterior of a restored English-style barn built in 1750 but was prevented from destroying the building altogether by firefighters.