Date: Fri 04-Dec-1998

Publication: Bee

Author: ANDYG

Quick Words:

fire-Walsh-Sandy-Hook-house

Full Text:

House Fire Causes Extensive Damage In Sandy Hook

(with photos)

BY ANDREW GOROSKO

Fire officials have concluded that a November 27 nighttime fire at 34

Berkshire Road was caused by a malfunctioning wood stove. The fire left the

residence with extensive damage, forcing its occupants to seek other quarters,

according to Sandy Hook Volunteer Fire and Rescue Company Chief Bill Halstead.

About 50 firefighters from Sandy Hook, Newtown Hook and Ladder, Botsford and

Hawleyville responded after an initial 11:23 pm fire call. Some of the several

calls made were placed by passers-by using cellular telephones.

The heavily damaged house is located on a short dead-end street just west of

the intersection of Berkshire Road and Toddy Hill Road. The building is owned

by Jim Walsh, the owner of a nearby wood mulching yard.

About seven people were believed to have lived in the old house; none were

home at the time of the blaze, Chief Halstead said.

One firefighter received a minor injury at the incident.

When firemen arrived at the scene, smoke was pouring out of the entire house

and a fire was visible on the ground floor of the building, the chief said.

"A front room was fully involved (in flames) when we got there," he said.

Flames were rolling through the building as firefighters battled the blaze, he

said.

"It was definitely burning [for] a time before we got there," Chief Halstead

said.

The fire spread through the old two-story, wood-frame house which has

balloon-style construction, Chief Halstead said. Such old-fashioned

construction, which was in use before modern fire safety codes took effect,

allows fires to spread rapidly through buildings.

The house fire originated on the first floor in a wood stove where wood had

been left burning when no one was home, Chief Halstead said. The stove was the

building's sole heat source, he said.

After igniting the section of the house adjacent to the stove, the flames

climbed up a wall and entered a ceiling, and then ignited an upstairs bedroom.

The fire then spread to the attic.

"The fire itself was knocked down eight to ten minutes (after) we got on the

scene," Chief Halstead said.

The people who lived in the house returned to the scene while firefighters

were battling the blaze. After controlling the fire, the fire volunteers

salvaged possessions from the building.

The house "appears to be structurally unsound" due to extensive fire damage

and may need to be condemned, Chief Halstead said. The house received fire,

heat, smoke and water damage.

During the fire Sandy Hook fire police and town police kept traffic flowing

through the nearby intersection, Chief Halstead said.

Sandy Hook's last fire truck at the scene returned to the firehouse at 3:10

am.

The last house fire in Sandy Hook occurred in late June in an unoccupied house

on Laurel Trail in the Riverside section.