It got worse as he tried to get out of 434 Howe Ave.
“It was so bad you couldn’t see, it was so thick,” said Quick, who lived on the third floor of the building reduced to rubble by a massive fire overnight.
Quick used his hands to feel his way through the smoke and out of the building. He suffered minor smoke inhalation, one of five people requiring a trip to the hospital.
Authorities did not release the nature of the injuries other people suffered, but said none were life-threatening.
Local and state fire marshals are trying to figure out the cause and origin. Click here for a previous story.
The fire tore through the four-story building, leaving about 30 people homeless and wrecking seven businesses, including Howe Convenient, Liquid Lunch, Bob Boroski’s School of Art, Joy Lee Chinese, a florist, a tarot card reading business and a barber’s shop.
- The upper floors of the structure collapsed into the first-floor retail shops.
- The portion of the building that housed apartments and Howe Convenient at 456 Howe Ave. fell into the street, spraying debris onto a fire truck.
- Scores of firefighters from the region battled the blaze into late Monday morning, but none were injured.
- A water main broke as firefighters tried to extinguish the flames. Low water pressure plagued the downtown area all day Monday.
- Roughly 900 United Illuminating customers were without electricity in the area of the fire as of 6 a.m. Almost 200 were still without power as of 2 p.m.
- Ladder trucks continued to dump water on the smoldering wreckage Monday afternoon as an excavator began to tear down what was left of the old building.
The article continues after the photo gallery:
Blinding Smoke
Those who escaped the blaze all described thick, blinding smoke — and were quick to thank the firefighters who brought them to safety.
Gary, a third-floor resident who would not give his last name, was startled out of slumber by the noise of people escaping the fire. He grabbed his keys and phone, threw on some clothes and left his apartment.
He got to the landing of the stairwell before turning back because of the smoke and heat.
“I hit the floor and had to crawl,” he said.
He got to a window, hopped onto a fire escape, but was blinded by smoke. He was stuck — but was quickly spotted by Shelton firefighters.
“Luckily, they had a ladder truck right there and one of the guys steered over to me and got me out of there,” Gary said.
It was just a close call — “About as close as I’ll come, I hope,” he said.
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Fire!
Third-floor resident Gerard Murphy described a chaotic scene after being awoken by loud noises.
“My neighbor from down the hall just banged on the door and yelled ‘Fire!’” Murphy said.
Murphy got out, but the person who alerted him fell down in the thick smoke.
Luckily, the neighbor was scooped up by firefighters clearing the building.
“They pulled him right out and brought him to the hospital,” Murphy said.
Many of the residents displaced by the fire were inside the Echo Hose Hook & Ladder firehouse on Coram Avenue, where the Connecticut Red Cross was lending a hand.
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The fire department published messages on social media asking the public for warm clothing and warm food to help the residents. People immediately responded.
Sue Parker, senior director of emergency services for the Connecticut Red Cross, said the organization was helping 15 families with emergency services in the wake of the blaze.
Hundreds of Firefighters Respond
About 200 firefighters from departments as far away as Fairfield responded to the blaze, according to fire officials.
The first units were dispatched to the scene about 11:30 p.m. on a report of a water flow alarm, according to Shelton Fire Department Assistant Chief Nick Verdicchio.
Fire Marshal James Tortora said firefighters arrived to find a sprinkler pipe broken.
“What that has to do with anything, we don’t know yet,” Tortora said. “The fire started shortly thereafter.”
A review of emergency radio transmissions from late Sunday and early Monday shows:
- 11:42 p.m.: Firefighters were sent to 446 Howe Ave., unit 103, after receiving a report of a smoke detector sounding. The resident told the dispatcher he neither saw nor smelled smoke.
- 11:50 p.m. (approximately): Firefighters arrive and do not see any smoke or flames, but soon discover water inside first-floor businesses.
- 12:05 a.m. (approximately): Firefighters shut off the malfunctioning sprinkler system.
- 12:19 a.m. (approximately): Firefighters ask for additional manpower, saying there is smoke in the basement and a strong odor of fire.
- 12:21 a.m. (approximately): Smoke showing from multiple apartments.
The following post contains some audio transmissions made during the incident.
Challenges
As fire crews turned their attention to putting out the blaze, they faced several obstacles.
“When we first came here we went to go tap two hydrants in the area and they were frozen solid,” Verdicchio said.
A “strike team” of pumper trucks from other fire departments responded to shuttle water to crews battling the blaze.
Then, about a half-hour after the fire started, the building collapsed into itself, sending a street sign through the window of a fire truck parked on Howe Avenue.
Another fire truck blew its motor, and crews shut another truck down because of electrical problems.
“So we had a few obstacles,” said Verdicchio, pictured below. “The guys did fantastic, it was a great effort.”
Grateful
The flames did not spread to two small eateries — Joy Lee Chinese and Liquid Lunch — next to the building leveled by Monday’s fire, Tortora said. But both sustained smoke damage and the windows were smashed.
Michele Bialek, Liquid Lunch at 434 Howe Ave. for almost a decade, said she received a phone call at about 1 a.m. Monday from a former employee alerting to her to the fire.
Bialek (below) and her husband, Fred, both Shelton residents, found someone to watch their six children and headed downtown.
They were greeted by smoke and flames, and then watched as the building caved in.
“It was fast,” she said. “Thank God everyone got out. I was telling people before, the volunteer firefighters in our city are amazing, as is the whole surrounding area.”
The Shelton fire marshal was hoping the Liquid Lunch portion of the structure would not have to be torn down.
While Bialek is happy there were no serious injuries during the fire, she knows the future of the business in uncertain.
“We’re glad everyone’s fine, but that next breath is ‘My God, what are we going to do?’”
There was an outpouring of support for the Bialeks and their business on social media. Liquid Lunch is involved in an array of community and charity activities.
“It’s amazing. I want to cry over the outpouring,” she said.
No Loss of Life
Mayor Mark Lauretti walked the scene about 9 a.m. Monday. He visited the fire department where the displaced residents gathered.
“The most important thing is that there was no loss of life,” Lauretti said.
The mayor said the city was reaching out to the owner of the building, local builder Ralph Matto, and would work with the Red Cross to help those displaced by the blaze, as well as get utilities restored to the area as quickly as possible.
The 4‑story wood building destroyed Monday was built in 1880, according to Robert Novak, a local historian, and was originally called the Adams Cotton Mill Block, because it was built by the owners of Adams Manufacturing Company.
The building underwent several major alterations over the years, he said. Half a century ago it was best known as the home of Kreiger’s, a large clothing store.
Investigation Starts
Tortora, the city’s fire marshal, said it could be days before officials learn more about how the conflagration began.
He said it was unclear what set off the alarm that resulted in fire crews being dispatched to the building initially — whether it was because of the broken sprinkler pipe or something else.
“We don’t know if (the alarm) was from that or the fire was already burning,” he said. “We assume (the pipe) was frozen and it broke. Whether the two are related or unrelated, we’ll have to make that determination.”
That could take awhile, due to the sheer scale of the destruction, he said, estimating about 11 a.m. it would be hours before they would able to even begin to sift through the rubble for clues.
Officials called heavy equipment to the scene Monday morning to remove debris and and allow investigators access.
“We’ll have to dig in there and try to make a determination,” Tortora said.
Shelton Police Chief Joel Hurliman said about 5:30 p.m. Monday that investigators believe the fire began somewhere in the basement of the building.
He praised firefighters for getting residents out safely.
“An old wood-frame building like that, to get everybody out of there, it’s just a really fantastic piece of work,” Hurliman said.
Downtown Comes To A Halt
The fire — and cleanup, which began Monday afternoon — closed busy Howe Avenue to traffic.
Police set up a series of detours and sent out press releases to keep the public in the loop.
Low water pressure forced 860 fifth and sixth grade students from the Perry Hill School on Perry Hill Road to relocate to Shelton High School for the day.
Scores of businesses were closed downtown because of the road closures, low-water pressure, lack of electricity and road closures Monday.
Hurliman said about 5:30 p.m. he hoped Howe Avenue would be open to traffic Monday night.
The chief said police would send out Code Red alerts to residents notifying them of changes.
