Twelve families, including 17 adults and a child, were displaced after a fire that broke out at a condominium complex on Saturday morning in South Windsor, according to fire officials.
South Windsor firefighters received a call at 5:55 a.m. Saturday and arrived within 10 minutes of the 911 call.
The fire started outside the Burr Meadow condo complex on on the 1000 block of Misty Meadow Lane and displaced residents in eight units. The fire was fully involved at two of the units when firefighters arrived, according to the South Windsor Fire Department's Facebook page.
The first crews that responded "made an aggressive interior attackand were forced out prior to the roof collapsing," the fire department said on Facebook.
All residents and firefighters made it out safely and no one was injured.
More crews were called, bringing the total South Windsor firefighters on scene to as many as 45 members. Manchester, Ellington and Broad Brook were initially called for mutual aid and Manchester responded while Vernon firefighters covered South Windsor's Station 1.
"Outstanding effort by all involved: 911 Dispatchers, SWPD, all the Dedicated members of the SWFD and our mutual aid Brothers/Sisters," the South Windsor Fire Department posted on Facebook.
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One of the families in South Windsor awoke to thick smoke and flames outside their condo unit in South Windsor on Saturday morning. The family ran outside and watched the fire quickly spread to the siding and soon the unit was engulfed in flames. They made it out safely and also rescued the family cat.
Connie Karpen, one of the residents forced out of her home after the blaze, told NBC Connecticut that she smelled something burning as early as 2:30 a.m. Saturday, but thought it was due to someone upstairs cooking. But it eventually became clear that there was a fire outside, the person said. One of the residents displaced said that the fire likely started in a mulch pile, possibly sparked by a cigaretted tossed into it.
But the fire remains under investigation and the South Windsor fire marshal has not identified the cause at this time. The state Fire Marshal's Office and South Windsor police are assisting with the investigation.
Karpen's husband told NBC Connecticut that a firefighter who lives in the condo complex stopped the family's neighbor from using a garden hose to put out the smoldering mulch bed before the fire department arrived.
More information will be provided when it becomes available.
