A fire in Ansonia Wednesday sent two people to the hospital and gutted the kitchen of a home on Greenfield Drive.
Fire Marshal Ralph Tingley said he was driving up Finney Street about 7:45 a.m. Wednesday when he was flagged down by somebody waving in the street.
“I turned to the left and saw smoke coming from the ridge vent of the house,” Tingley said.
He radioed to have the fire department sent to the house, then tried to get in.
An elderly woman and her son were the only ones in the house at the time. They were both taken to Bridgeport Hospital’s burn unit.
WFSB identified the residents as Richard Cook and his 82-year-old mother, Jean Cook.
Tingley said the two residents were “doing well” in recovery Wednesday afternoon.
Update Aug. 14: A Bridgeport Hospital spokesman said Friday that the Cooks had been discharged from the hospital.
Fire crews arrived to find a fire in the kitchen of the ranch style, single-family home.
“It was well-involved,” Tingley said. “It pretty much burned out the kitchen, extended, and had blown through the kitchen window.
Firefighters and police at the scene said the mother was helped out of the house by her son and a neighbor.
The flames were spreading from the kitchen to a hallway and into the home’s attic before firefighters stretched hoses and knocked down the flames, Tingley said.
“The guys did a great job of stopping it right there,” he said.
But the damage to the house has rendered it uninhabitable. The family has made arrangements to stay with relatives.
Two dogs also got out unharmed.
The fire has been ruled accidental.
Tingley said the blaze began on a counter in the kitchen where there were several appliances, but the extensive damage wrought by the flames means he can’t make a conclusive ruling about how exactly the fire ignited.
Original post from Wednesday morning follows:
Two people were burned during a house fire at the corner of Finney Street and Greenfield Drive.
Their injuries are not thought to be life threatening, police said.
The injured people were an elderly woman and her adult son. Police estimated the son to be in his 50s.
Their names were not immediately available.
The house is at 2 Greenfield Drive.
The son was injured while getting his mother and two dogs out of the burning home, firefighters said.
A neighbor also helped get the elderly woman out of the ranch-style house.
Ansonia Fire Marshal Ray Tingley was still on the scene as of 11:20 a.m. investigating. Tingley was the first on scene, and actually radioed the fire into dispatch. That was at 7:48 a.m.
Mayor David Cassetti and Alderman Patrick Henri were on the scene as well. Cassetti confirmed the two injuries.
Derby firefighters were also called to the incident.
This story will be updated as information becomes available.
