A Halloween evening fire damaged a Sandy Hook home and displaced its two residents, but Sandy Hook Volunteer Fire & Rescue Chief Bill Halstead said things could have been much worse.

Firefighters from all five of Newtown’s companies responded around 7:30 pm Sunday, October 31, to 19 Dayton Street for a reported fire within at least one room of that dwelling. Responders were initially told that the caller was unable to get to her sister, who was inside the building. Newtown Volunteer Ambulance Corps also responded.

Halstead reported “some kind of fire,” and a smoke condition, upon his arrival.

The property is approximately 285 yards north of Dayton Street’s intersection with Church Hill Road. Fire engines were parked on Church Hill Road so that tankers could shuttle water over the narrow roadway. Many firefighters walked in from Church Hill to the fire location.

The home is a two-story Colonial with 1,732 square feet of living area, according to the online assessor’s database. It is owned by Ruth E. Swift, also according to the database.

The fire was knocked down in less than 30 minutes. It started on the second floor, and stayed within one room.

Halstead credited “an aggressive attack by Sandy Hook and Hook & Ladder firefighters” that contained the fire to the one room.

“A house like that — it was lathe and plaster — and a lot of times fire gets into that and it just goes, and you’re not going to save it no matter who’s there,” he added.

The room itself was “heavily damaged,” according to Halstead. “A lot of that was because we had to tear it out, being an old house.”

There was also a lot of material inside the room, all of which needed to be removed.

“There was an accumulation, a lot of items, which all had to be removed to make sure the fire was really out,” he said. “There were no flames when we got there. It was just smoke, and it was smoldering.”

Deputy Fire Marshal Dave Ober, who is investigating the fire, told The Newtown Bee on November 3 that the cause “is still under investigation.”

While local fire protocol calls for an ambulance crew to be dispatched to the scene of a confirmed house fire, where they do standby until or if any injuries occur, Halstead called on NVAC immediately Sunday night. One of the home’s occupants was still inside the dwelling when he arrived. The approximately 60-year-old woman is partially disabled and uses a scooter to move around.

Halstead said he sent Hook & Ladder Chief Chris Ward, who was next to arrive at the scene and quickly suited up in an airpack, in to get the woman out of the building.

“I had the ambulance check her out,” he said. “She had some smoke inhalation.”

Neither of the women who live at the house needed to be taken to the hospital. Both were put into the care of the American Red Cross.

Halstead estimates 35 firefighters responded to the scene.

Southbury, Bethel, and Stevenson fire companies also provided standby coverage at Sandy Hook main, Dodgingtown, and Botsford’s stations, respectively.

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Associate Editor Shannon Hicks can be reached at shannon@thebee.com.