A woman and her pet are dead after a three-alarm fire at an apartment building in Hamden.
Firefighters got a report of a large structure fire on Kaye Vue Drive at approximately 8:20 p.m. Thursday. When officials arrived at the scene, they saw heavy smoke coming from the fourth floor.
Crews were able to get into the building through a stairwell, where they raced up to the top floor and pulled a woman from the apartment where the fire originated.
The woman, later identified as 56-year-old Cherie Adamczyk, was transported to Yale New Haven Hospital where she was later pronounced dead, officials said.
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A man was rescued from across the hall.
Resident Abdoulaye Jobe said he was in the shower when everything happened and spoke exclusively with NBC Connecticut about his experience.
"I heard banging on the door, obviously in the shower, I run out in a towel and I open the door and it's black. I don't know what to do, I was scared, ran back to my room, threw clothes on. I went to the window and started screaming for help because I couldn't open the door. It was really hot in the hallway," Jobe said.
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"I finally got the courage to open the door and I heard one of the firefighters in the hallway yelling out for people so I started yelling out for him and he said 'come find me' and I look around and I can't see anything but he had a light and I saw the light and reached out for him. And he grabbed me, got me out of there, saved my life," Jobe continued.
Fire Chief Gary Merwede said most residents self-evacuated once alarms started going off in the building.
Merwede said most of the fire extended to the roof so crews had to peel back rafters to get to the blaze.
Merwede said as many as 40 people could be without homes. He's hopeful it'll be less than that.
Nine apartments were declared uninhabitable due to fire, smoke, and water damage, according to fire officials.
No other injuries were reported.
The Hamden Fire Marshal’s office along with the Connecticut State Police Fire and Explosion Investigation Unit are conducting an investigation into the cause of the fire.
