Two Ansonia families were awakened by a house fire in the middle of the night, Sunday. Authorities say the fire started on the back deck and quickly spread to the the second floor and through the roof.
“We had heavy fire in the back of the building, on the back stairway. We knocked it down quick with an aggressive attack," said Michael Eheman, Ansonia's Assistant Fire Chief.
The home’s owner, Lucy Lopez said she hosted a barbecue on that deck the day before. As the fire marshal worked to determine the fire's cause, Lopez said she believed the fire was started by ashes from the grill.
When family members alerted her to the fire at 2:15 in the morning Lopez screamed to neighbors, who called 911, then ran downstairs to warn her tenants.
"We were sleeping and the next thing neighbor upstairs, they were knocking on our door like, 'get out get out there's fire.' So, we got out with the kids and we see the stairs and the roof with fire, and we wait for the firemen to come," said Jesus Garcia who lives on the first floor with his wife Daisy and three children.
The second floor apartment suffered heavy flame and smoke damage. Because the Garcia's apartment only had water damage, they were allowed back inside to get some of their belongings. Garcia's eldest son carried stacks of books to the car. The fire marshal said the home is unlivable right now.
"We have three kids and the most important thing is getting out of the house. We had no shoes or anything," said Garcia.
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The fire department called in mutual aid from Derby to get the fire under control. The flames melted the siding off a neighboring home.
"Because of the close proximity two homes, one on Hodge and the other side of Platt Street they were very tight there was only two to three feet between them. We evacuated them just in case," said Eheman.
Eheman said several of the firefighters were cut by broken glass while trying to put the fire out. Two were taken to the hospital where they were treated and released. The rest were treated at the scene.
