By LIORA ENGEL
Granite State News Collaborative
CHARLESTOWN, N.H. — A detached garage on Happy Acres Drive was destroyed in a second-alarm fire alarm Saturday afternoon that left the property owner with burns, according to the Charlestown Fire Department.
The fire was fully involved when crews arrived on the scene around 12:45 p.m., and crews worked to contain the blaze for roughly two hours, Shawn O’Hearne, Charlestown’s assistant fire chief, said Tuesday afternoon.
The homeowner, who was in the garage at the time of the fire, suffered burns to his arm and hands and was taken to Valley Regional Hospital in Claremont, then transferred to Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon, according to O’Hearne.
The garage was the former home of convicted murderer James R. Robarge, who killed Kelly Robarge, his wife of 21 years, in June 2013 on the same day she filed for divorce. Investigators found evidence consistent with a physical fight throughout the home, which the jury toured during James Robarge’s trial in 2015. He is serving his sentence at the N.H. State Prison for Men in Concord.
The current owners converted the structure to a garage and workshop and built a new home roughly 30 feet away, O’Hearne said. Some vinyl siding melted in Sunday’s fire, but otherwise the residence remained intact, he said. The garage was a total loss.
The fire appears to have started in the garage, according to O’Hearne, who said it remains under investigation. The fire is not considered suspicious, he said.
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