Mile Hill Road South—

Fire At New House Causes An Estimated $100,000 Damage

By Andrew Gorosko

Fire and police officials are investigating the circumstances surrounding a Monday morning fire that caused an estimated $100,000 in heat, smoke, and water damage to a new house at 10 Mile Hill Road South, near Fairfield Hills.

Newtown Hook & Ladder, Sandy Hook, and Botsford firefighters responded to the 7:29 am call, after smoke detectors had sounded in the building. There were no injuries in the blaze.

The five-member Halili family has been living in the house, although it was incomplete and had not yet received a certificate of occupancy from the town, officials said. The house is currently nonhabitable due to the fire. The family is staying elsewhere.

In April 2005, the Halilis had purchased a small house and land at 10 Mile Hill Road from the town for $332,000. The property included one of five compact vacant houses along the northernmost section of Mile Hill Road South, which the town had received from the state during its 2004 acquisition of the Fairfield Hills core campus. The town then resold the five properties at auction. Fairfield Hills, a former state psychiatric hospital, closed in December 1995.

After acquiring the site, the Halilis demolished the existing small house there and built a new, larger structure. The two-story building, which has a three-bay garage, is significantly larger than other houses in the neighborhood. The house is insured.

Various building materials, including flooring supplies, moldings, and cardboard packaging, which were being stored in the house’s kitchen, somehow caught fire, causing the smoke detectors to sound.

First Assistant Fire Chief Mike McCarthy of Newtown Hook & Ladder was incident commander at the fire. The fire caused smoke damage throughout the house, he said.

Firefighters entered the house through the front door and extinguished the blaze with water, he said. There are fire hydrants in that area. About 30 firefighters responded to the call.

“They did a great job…They minimized the loss,” Mr McCarthy said of firefighters’ efforts to extinguish the blaze.

Fire Marshal Bill Halstead said the fire’s cause is yet unclear. The fire appears to be accidental, he said. The cause is “undetermined and under investigation,” he said.

Mr Halstead said that the 10-year-old daughter of Edmond and Kristena Halili was alone in the house and asleep upstairs when the smoke detectors sounded, alerting her of the fire. The mother, father, and two teenage sons had already left the house that morning, the fire marshal said.

The girl called her mother on the telephone, who in turn alerted fire fighters of the blaze, Mr Halstead said.

Police Patrol Officer Steve Ketchum, who is a deputy fire marshal, is working with fire officials in investigating the fire, Mr Halstead said.

“I’m assisting the fire marshal with the investigation into the cause and origin [of the fire], and the circumstances surrounding the fire,” Officer Ketchum said. He declined further comment on the matter.

Town Building Official Thomas Paternoster said this week that earlier this month, after learning that the Halili family was living in the house, which did not have a required certificate of occupancy, the town building department referred the matter to the town attorney for possible legal action.

The family will not be able to reoccupy the house until the structure receives a certificate of occupancy, Mr Paternoster said.

Such certificates are granted after a final building inspection determines that a structure meets all applicable building, fire, and safety codes.