The fire that destroyed two cottages and damaged several abandoned homes along Long Beach in Stratford was set, fire officials said.
The fire department got the call around 4:30 p.m. Sunday that several cottages were burning.
Police are investigating a report that someone saw two men hanging around right before the fire broke out.
Bridgeport firefighters had to use a boat to get to fire and brought hoes and shovels because there's no water on the island.
"Every building is so close together and the wood has been drying for the last 20 years that you're not going to be able to fight it unless you have some mobile way out there," Alexander Wolf of Stratford said.
Long Beach is a mile-long stretch of beach that is inaccessible by vehicles, making fighting the fire difficult to fight. One responder was hurt battling the fire.
The only bridge to the mainland burned down in 1996 from an accidental fire, so there's no public access to the beach anymore.
About 40 beach cottages remain on the property, but no one can live there city officials have said.
In March 2008, three beach cottages were destroyed by fire.
Investigators believe that fire was arson, as electrical power had been shut off to the properties. The cause of this fire is under investigation.
There are about three dozen dilapidated cottages on Long Beach.
