More than 50 local firefighters responded on the evening of Tuesday, September 2, to a house fire reported at 40 Alpine Circle in the Riverside section of Sandy Hook.

Sandy Hook Fire & Rescue Chief Bill Halstead said there were no injuries in the blaze, which caused “considerable damage” to the Rebecco residence.

Chief Halstead was investigating at the scene on Wednesday morning in seeking to determine what caused the fire. Chief Halstead also is the town fire marshal.

No damage estimate was immediately available.

Volunteer firefighters from Sandy Hook, Botsford, Newtown Hook & Ladder, Dodgingtown and Hawleyville responded to the 6:15 pm incident. Sandy Hook sent 36 firefighters on the call.

Southbury also responded to the incident, putting a crew on standby at the Sandy Hook main station.

The narrow curving roads in the hilly community alongside Lake Zoar were full of emergency traffic as fire vehicles traveled through the area Tuesday night, carrying water for firefighting. Many people living in the neighborhood walked toward the fire scene in seeking to learn what had happened.

Chief Halstead said that none of the house’s three residents were home when the fire started. One of those residents returned home and discovered that a fire was underway and then reported the blaze, he said.

The fire began in the basement and then spread up to first story of the two-story Colonial-style house, the fire chief said.

The three-bedroom house was built in 2005. It has an attached two-bay garage. The house is set well back from the curving end of Alpine Circle, which is a loop road that extends from Alpine Drive.

Chief Halstead said firefighters knocked down the blaze quickly, entering the basement and the first story of the building to do so.

Firefighters used water from a neighborhood water supply system to fight the blaze. They drew that water from hydrants and then shuttled it to the fire scene.

Due to the stress caused by the day’s high heat and humidity, firefighting crews worked in rotation at the scene, he said. Firefighters were on the scene until approximately 9 pm Tuesday.

Two pet dogs which were inside the house when the fire occurred reportedly escaped injury in the blaze.

(An expanded version of this story will be published as details become available).