Nighttime Blaze Heavily Damages Converted Antique Barn

By Andrew Gorosko

A man in his 50s, who had been sleeping in an apartment in a converted antique barn on Chestnut Hill Road in Sandy Hook on Sunday night, fortunately escaped injury after the building accidentally caught fire and was heavily damaged by the blaze, fire officials said.

Sandy Hook Volunteer Fire & Rescue Company Chief Bill Halstead said this week that a passerby driving on Berkshire Road (Route 34) at about 8:46 pm noticed the glow of fire at 40-A Chestnut Hill Road and placed an emergency call for firefighting help.

The passerby then vigorously knocked on the door of the apartment that was afire to get tenant James Jarvis out of the burning building.

There were no injuries in the blaze, which probably caused more than $100,000 worth of damage, including the building and its contents, said Chief Halstead. The building is insured.

When firefighters arrived on the scene, they spotted flames shooting upward from the roof and through a window, the fire chief said.

Sandy Hook, Hook & Ladder, Botsford, Dodgingtown, Hawleyville, and Stevenson firefighters responded to the call. Southbury firefighters went to the Sandy Hook firehouse on Riverside Road to staff that station.

Besides the converted antique barn, the four-acre property holds a colonial-style house. Both structures, which have massive chestnut-beam framing, were built circa 1789. Property owners Helga and Bernhard Roegele live in the Colonial house at 40 Chestnut Hill Road. The site is near Chestnut Hill Road’s eastern intersection with Berkshire Road.

Mr Roegele said that the antique barn had been converted and expanded in the past to hold an apartment on two levels, as well as garage space. There were no vehicles in the two-bay garage at the time of the fire. The outbuilding stands 48 feet from the house.

Mr Roegele said that he and his wife Helga were at home in the nearby house when the fire occurred.  

Mr Roegele said that Mr Jarvis was fortunate to have gotten out of the apartment uninjured.

“He was lucky to get out alive,” Mr Roegele said, lauding the efforts of the “good Samaritan” who stopped to alert Mr Jarvis of the fire.

Mr Jarvis is now living elsewhere because the heavily damaged apartment that he formerly occupied is uninhabitable.

Mr Roegele said that while looking out of his house on Sunday night, he noticed that there was a problem and went outdoors where he encountered the man who warned Mr Jarvis of the fire.

Chief Halstead said that firefighters used three crews with hose lines in fighting the blaze. Two of those crews went inside the building to extinguish the fire, he said. Firefighters used more than 18,000 gallons of water to put out the flames and also wet down the old wooden structure. About 45 firefighters went to the incident.

Firefighters shuttled water to the site from a dry hydrant at the Eichler’s Cove Marina on Lake Zoar.

Although Sunday was windy, wind was not a factor in the fire, Chief Halstead said.

The accidental apartment fire started in the area near a metal fireplace or the area near that fireplace’s chimney, based on the evidence, he said.

Mr Jarvis had made a fire in the fireplace before he went to sleep, according to the fire chief. The man had moved into the apartment as a tenant on May 1.

Chief Halstead said Mr Jarvis had unsuccessfully tried to extinguish the fire inside the apartment.

The fire chief said it is unclear if the building would deemed a total loss or would be repaired.

Mr Roegele said he is reviewing what will happen to the building that was damaged by the fire.