Shelton firefighters made quick work Thursday (March 28) morning of a small fire at a two-family Long Hill Avenue home started by a cigarette butt.
There were no injuries.
Crews were dispatched to the area Center Street about 9 a.m. on a report of smoke in the area.
Shelton Fire Department Assistant Chief Daryl Osiecki said at the scene that about a minute after the initial call, crews responding to the area were told of several calls reporting a structure fire in a two-family home at 15 Long Hill Ave.
Crews from Echo Hose Hook & Ladder, Pine Rock, and White Hills volunteer fire companies responded and found “a little bit of smoke showing from the rear of the house,” Osiecki said.
The fire was confined to the area around a windowsill at the rear of the house, Osiecki said. Firefighters used a portable “water can” to extinguish it.
Emergency personnel remained at the scene for about a half-hour doing overhaul work and making sure the fire hadn’t spread.
The house’s occupants made it out of the house safely, Osiecki said.
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Fire Marshal James Tortora said the fire was caused by a discarded cigarette.
“The second-floor tenant was smoking and threw the cigarette butt out the window and it landed in the first floor windowsill and the windowsill caught fire,” he said.
Tortora said damage from the fire itself was confined to the area around the windowsill.
The home suffered minor smoke damage on the first and second floor, Tortora said, but not so much as to make the home uninhabitable.
“They should be able to get back in there today,” Tortora said.
Crews were clearing the scene by about 9:30 a.m.