Residents were hanging out of windows at a Main Street home in Branford trying to escape the flames that killed six cats Tuesday morning.
Fire officials said smoldering smoking materials sparked the two-alarm fire at 674 Main Street around 3:45 a.m. Eight people were home at the three-family house when flames broke out.
Four people on the first floor got out after smoke detectors went off, but fire blocked all exits, preventing the others from escaping on their own. Firefighters had to use a ladder to rescue three trapped residents.
They also had to wake up a man in the second-floor apartment who didn't hear his smoke detector go off. Firefighters helped him out of the building.
Everyone made it out safely, but fire officials said six cats died in the blaze.
The call originally came in as a kitchen fire, but firefighters found heavy flames and smoke on the second floor and toward the back of the home when they arrived.
"It was very significant fire on both the exterior fire escape and the third floor stairwell were both blocked off by fire," Branford Acting Fire Chief Shaun Heffernan said. "The only option was for them to come out that front window."
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The fire spread to all levels of the house, growing fast. One of the residents trapped on the top floor shared her story.
"I felt trapped and all I kept thinking was, 'Oh my God, I have to get kids out," said Christine Nerkowski. "I have to wake them up, get them out. We didn’t know how we were going to do that. I just knew that we had to go out the window."
Resident Elizabeth Nerkowski described the fear as they tried to get out.
"That was pretty scary and then I heard my mom say ‘we can’t get out, we’re trapped," she said.
East Haven and Guilford firefighters also responded for mutual aid.
The fire has been ruled accidental, and fire officials said "carelessly discarded smoking material" is to blame.
