A fire caused by a discarded cigarette gutted a two-story house on Shelton’s High Plains Road Friday morning.
No one was inside the house at the time the fire broke out, though a pet dog died in the blaze.
Crews from all four of Shelton’s volunteer fire companies were dispatched to the home, at 9 High Plains Road, about 10:20 a.m.
Next door neighbor Terrie Posick said she was inside her home at the time and heard explosions.
“It was multiple explosions,” Posick said. “It was a big one and then several small ones. My house shook a little bit.”
She ran outside and saw smoke billowing out of the home and called 911.
“The whole back deck was on fire,” Posick said. “By that time you could already see it melting the house away.”
Fire Marshal James Tortora said Friday afternoon that the fire was caused by a resident of the house discarding a cigarette on the back deck before leaving the home Friday morning.
Tortora said the explosions Posick heard were probably the house’s windows popping out once the fire had spread from the deck to the inside of the home.
“We believe that an occupant discarded a cigarette prior to leaving the house on the back deck,” Tortora said. “It ignited the deck, went across the deck, hit the siding of the house, and broke through the windows and doors. Shortly thereafter the Fire Department was called.”
Three firefighters sustained “minor, minor” injuries and were treated at the scene, Tortora said.
Shelton Fire Department Assistant Chief Daryl Osiecki said at the scene that the first crews arrived within about five minutes of being dispatched and found a heavy fire in the rear of the house that had extended into the first and second floors, then to the home’s roof.
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Firefighters knocked down a “good majority” of the fire, Osiecki said, but then had to pull out of the house because the hydrant they had connected to lost some pressure.
A pumper arrived on scene and hooked into the hydrant to boost water pressure, he said.
The fire was knocked down about 11 a.m.
“Once we got the majority of the heavy fire knocked down again we sent crews back in and were able to hit the big pockets of fire from the interior,” Osiecki said.
As flames spread to the attic of the home, the fire spread quickly across the house’s roofline.
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“The way they build (houses) nowadays, it’s very cheap and flimsy material, laminated board that’s highly flammable,” Osiecki said. “Once (fire) gets in there it starts to collapse.”
The house was a “total loss,” Osiecki said.
Tortora said a dog belonging to the family living at the house died in the blaze.
Homeowner Arvind Vaish arrived on the scene minutes after the fire had been knocked down.
Vaish said he was at work in Orange when he heard about the blaze and rushed home.
He’s lived at the house with his wife and children for three years, he said.
Vaish said the family would be staying at a hotel for the time being.
About 30 to 40 Shelton firefighters responded to the fire, with crews from the Derby on the scene as well.
Fire companies from Monroe, Trumbull, and Ansonia covered the city’s fire stations while crews fought the blaze.
