Two Boys Injured In Cooking Fire

By Andrew Gorosko

Two boys were listed in fair condition and being treated for burns as patients at Bridgeport Hospital on Thursday morning, following a cooking fire that occurred late Wednesday afternoon at a Black Bridge Road residence.

Kevin Stoyak, the first assistant chief of the Sandy Hook Volunteer Fire & Rescue Company, said that two boys, ages 16 and 17, who were by themselves at 43 Black Bridge Road at about 4:35 pm on Wednesday, had been heating some cooking oil to make french fires.

When the cooking oil accidentally ignited, water was thrown onto it in an effort to extinguish the fire, but the burning oil then shot outward from the cooking vessel, burning the two boys, said Mr Stoyak, who served as incident commander.

Mr Stoyak declined to disclose the boys’ identities. The two boys are friends, he said. One of the boys lives at the residence, he added.

Mr Stoyak said that both boys were conscious and alert before being transported by ambulance volunteers to Bridgeport Hospital for burn treatment. One of the two received more burns than the other youth,  Mr Stoyak said.

Bridgeport Hospital spokesman John Cappiello confirmed that the two boys were patients at the hospital on Thursday, but did not provide their identities.

The fire caused smoke damage to the house, which remains habitable, Mr Stoyak said. Firefighters used smoke ejectors to clear the house of smoke, he said.

Attempts to reach the residents of the Black Ridge Road home by telephone for comment were unsuccessful. Black Bridge Road is a side street off Walnut Tree Hill Road.