The two-alarm Hartford apartment fire that sent a mother, infant and blind man to the hospital and displaced 40 residents Wednesday night has been deemed arson, according to the the fire department.
Officials said the fire marshal was called Wednesday night after flames broke out in the second- and third-floor stairwell of 196 Sigourney Street around 9:30 p.m. The department's Arson Investigation Unit is now following leads.
Firefighters used a ladder truck to rescue and mother baby from their third-floor window. Other crew members rescued a blind man and his service dog from the building, according to fire officials. All three were taken to St. Francis Hospital for treatment and have since been released.
"I couldn't see anything. It was pitch black," said Sasharna Roberts, the mom who was rescued.
With her little girl in her arms, still wrapped in a Red Cross blanket, Roberts thanked the firefighters who saved her.
"If it weren't for them, I don't know what would have happened to us," she told NBC Connecticut in an exclusive interview Thursday. "Maybe we wouldn't be alive today."
When she learned the fire was deliberate, Roberts called the perpetrator "cruel," especially, she said, given all the lives that were at risk.
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The fire left 30 adults and 10 children homeless. The fire department's Special Services Unit and crews from the American Red Cross helped the families find temporary housing, according to fire officials.
