Fire Officials Continue House Fire Probe

By Andrew Gorosko

Fire officials this week were continuing their investigation into a fire last week, which caused an estimated $100,000 loss at an incomplete new house at 10 Mile Hill Road South, near Fairfield Hills.

Fire Marshal Bill Halstead said that investigators for the homeowners’ insurance firm were conducting scientific tests to determine whether the apparently accidental fire was caused by an electrical problem.

There were no injuries in the blaze at the Halili residence, which was reported at 7:29 am on January 22. Only one of the five family members was at home at the time of the fire. Smoke detectors had sounded, alerting the 10-year-old girl, who had been sleeping in a second-story bedroom, that a fire was underway in the first-story kitchen.

The fire resulted in heat, smoke, and water damage to the house.

Police Patrol Officer Steve Ketchum, who is a deputy fire marshal, has been assisting Mr Halstead in the investigation.

The Halili family had been living in the house, although it was incomplete and had not yet received a certificate of occupancy from the town. The house is currently uninhabitable due to the fire. The family is staying elsewhere. The town has prohibited occupancy of the fire-damaged building.

Before the fire occurred, the town had referred the family’s residence in the incomplete building to the town attorney for possible legal action.

In April 2005, the Halilis had purchased a small house and land at 10 Mile Hill Road from the town for $332,000. That 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 house.

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

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