Ten people, a dog and an iguana escaped injury after fire tore through a two-family apartment house at 133 – 135 Mount Pleasant St. Monday.
Two firefighters were treated for minor injuries.
The structure is a duplex, with two-story apartments on either side.
One of the apartments was a total loss, firefighters said. The other apartment suffered water and smoke damage. In addition, firefighters had to cut through the wall to reach the apartment that was on fire.
STORY CONTINUES AFTER PHOTO GALLERY:
Sara Manrique was in her apartment when she heard a commotion from her neighbor’s side of the duplex.
“We were inside. It’s my birthday and we were about to cut my birthday cake,” said Manrique, who turned 35 Monday. “We heard all these smoke alarms and we were listening, trying to figure out where it was coming from.”
Then Manrique heard her neighbors running up and down stairs, yelling.
“They are not a noisy family, but we heard them running, Then we heard somebody say ‘Call 911!’,” Manrique said.
Manrique grabbed an iguana and her three children — ages 4, 8 and 18 — and ran from the apartment house, where they saw flames engulf the back of the structure.
Edgar Manrique took a fire extinguisher and, from the yard, tried to make his way toward his neighbor’s side of the duplex.
“I walked over with my fire extinguisher and saw the windows exploding,” Edgar said.
At the same time they saw their neighbors rush from the burning apartment, gagging from thick smoke.
Manrique said her five neighbors and their dog escaped without injury. They declined comment.
It was unclear where the families would be spending Monday night, but the CT Red Cross was responding.
Firefighters were called to the scene at about 7:30 p.m.
The house at 133 – 135 Mount Pleasant Street is up a hill behind St. Michael’s Church off Route 34. The flames were visible across the river in Shelton.
“People could see it from Route 34 below, so they called 911, and the occupants that got out also called 911,” said Derby Fire Department Chief Kurt Kemmesies, Jr.
The chief said the city fire marshal believes the fire started in the rear area of the basement, but the cause is still under investigation.
“The left side of the house is a total loss,” the chief said.
In addition, the decks attached to the back of the duplex started to collapse as firefighters tried to extinguish the flames. Crews were ordered out of the structure.
The fire trucks slipped a bit heading up Mount Pleasant Street, but the weather didn’t seem to be a major obstacle to the firefighters. The area was under a blizzard warning, as a major winter storm takes over Connecticut.
“Everybody got there, but it was a little slow going,” Kemmesies said.
Two firefighters were hurt. One firefighter twisted his ankle, slipped on the ice and cut his leg on a rock. A second firefighter hurt his hand.
Both injuries were described as minor.
