A single-family home was heavily damaged by fire Friday night, as all five of Newtown's fire companies responded to 107 Great Quarter Road following a report of a heavy smoke condition in the area.The Newtown Bee that approximately 40-45 firefighters went to the scene Friday night.[naviga:img class="aligncenter wp-image-309082" src="https://newtownbee.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/Great-Quarter-Road-structure-fire-01-SHVFR-photo.jpg" alt="Great Quarter Road structure fire 01 -- SHVFR photo" width="800" height="589" /]Approximately 45 firefighters responded to the home at 107 Great Quarter Road on Friday, March 9, when a fire on unknown origin was reported. Sandy Hook Volunteer Fire & Rescue Chief Bill Halstead, second from the right, served as incident commander.

The cause of the fire was not yet determined as of Saturday, March 10, according to Sandy Hook Volunteer Fire & Rescue Chief Bill Halstead, who served as incident commander on the scene.

Great Quarter is approximately 214 yards west of the Newtown-Monroe town line just off Berkshire Road/Route 34. The narrow, winding residential road runs north-south. The March 9 fire was just under a half-mile from the intersection with Berkshire Road.

Firefighters from Sandy Hook, Botsford and Hook & Ladder were initially dispatched to the call shortly before 8 pm. Upon arrival, however, Chief Halstead confirmed a structure fire and requested that all five companies be sent to the scene. Hawleyville and Dodgingtown were then called to respond.

Monroe and Stevenson volunteer fire companies sent additional support apparatus and manpower to the scene.

Hawleyville was initially dispatched to provide a RIT (Rapid Intervention Team, trained firefighters who perform interior rescues of firefighters in peril). Upon the arrival of Monroe firefighters, however, Chief Halstead diverted Hawleyville firefighters to attacking the fire and Monroe provided RIT coverage.

Chief Halstead told

Southbury sent firefighters and apparatus to cover Sandy Hook's main station during the fire, Brookfield sent coverage for Hook & Ladder's station, and Stepney sent a crew to Botsford's station, according to Chief Halstead.

As is protocol for structure fires, Newtown Volunteer Ambulance Corps was dispatched to the scene to stand by in the event of any injuries. There were none reported.

No one was home at the time of the fire.

"When I got there, there was a neighbor there who told me right away that there was no one in the house at that time," Chief Halstead said. "The owner was coming back, and was there before we left."

Firefighters battled fire on both floors of the 1.5-floor home, according to Chief Halstead.

"It was a little difficult at first," he said, "because it was in the walls, between the first and second floor. It burned through in spots, so we had to pull down a lot of stuff."

Chief Halstead said firefighters got control of most of the fire quickly, but said there was still some stubborn access to gain before the fire was completely extinguished.

"We had to start opening the walls on the first floor, because there was a crawl space that the fire had gotten into," he said.

While the house suffered significant damage, the fire chief believes it may be reparable.

"Obviously they can't live there now, but I think it can be repaired," Chief Halstead said.

According to records from the Office of the Assessor, the single family Cape style home was constructed in 1933. It has a living space of 1,231 square feet, and is on a 0.17 acre lot.

Fire companies began to be released from the scene around 9:15 pm Friday evening. Sandy Hook was last to leave the scene, around 10:30 pm, according to Chief Halstead.

At the same time as the structure fire call, Southbury and Sandy Hook volunteers responded to a commercial fire alarm at Curtis Packaging, but there was no fire.

-photo courtesy Sandy Hook Vol. Fire & Rescue

[naviga:img class="aligncenter wp-image-309083" src="https://newtownbee.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/107-Great-Quarter-Road-photo-from-Assessors-Database-Vision-Government-Solutions.jpg" alt="107 Great Quarter Road photo from Assessor's Database Vision Government Solutions" width="800" height="612" /]

 The home at 107 Great Quarter Road suffered significant damage Friday, March 9. 

-Vision Government Solutions photo