‘We’re going to move forward’: Small fire damages part of Boscawen sober living house

Only a couple of days have passed since the Canterbury House, a sober living facility in Boscawen, experienced a small fire that damaged a portion of the building.

Zakry Jantzen, the house’s manager, said he has been grateful for all the support the community has showed — and the way residents have reacted.

“Bunch of very resilient guys just going through the motions here,” said Jantzen.

All nine residents of the recovery facility safely left the house when alarms started blaring at 3 a.m. on Tuesday. Jantzen said the group has handled the situation as they handled their own addiction battles — by taking it step by step and supporting one another.

The Canterbury House helps those struggling with addiction through a 12-step program with custom recovery plans. The facility opened in 2020 and has fed and housed dozens of people. The average stay lasts six months, but Jantzen said residents are encouraged to stay at least one year.

As the group left the building, they quickly realized the cause of the fire which set off the alarms: an electric bike someone brought inside ahead of the snowstorm had exploded.

“As people were exiting, one of the guys just grabbed the scooter and threw it out the front door [and] put out a fire real quick with a fire extinguisher,” Jantzen said.

Boscawen Fire Chief Tim Kenney told the Monitor that the first floor of the house at 109 High St. filled with smoke, sustaining smoke and water damage that rendered it uninhabitable.

While there were no injuries, Jantzen said one-third of the house is “not a good space to be in right now,” including the main kitchen area. The facility had extra beds that residents staying too close to the affected area could move to for the time being, cramping the rest of the house.

“It’s an inconvenience,” Jantzen said. “But luckily, what we go through here is just really not dwelling on the past but how we’re going to move forward and what are the steps we need to take.”

Several local aid organizations, including the Red Cross, have helped the Canterbury House since the fire. Jantzen said, with the additional help from family, friends and the Greater Concord community, restorations will be quick.

“Guys aren’t letting it keep them up,” Jantzen said. “They’re still going to work. We’re doing what we got to do in our daily lives. We’re trying to stay out of the way as much as we can of the people that are trying to help us.”

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