A woman is dead and a man is in critical condition after a fire in New Britain on Monday afternoon, according to officials. The mayor’s office said the woman who died was found in an illegal attic apartment.
Firefighters were called to the residence, a two-family home on Belden Street, at 12:24 p.m. Monday to fight a fire in the attic and found heavy fire from the top floor, according to the mayor’s office.
They said a man jumped out of a window before firefighters arrived and was brought to a hospital with burns. Two other people were evacuated from the building.
“I lost everything … Christmas … I lost everything,” a second-floor tenant said. “My mom’s ashes meant everything to me. It’s gone.”
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Hours later, after the fire was out, crews were able to go inside and a woman was found dead in the attic apartment, the mayor’s office said. They said the apartment was not legal.
“There should be justice for this,” the tenant, who didn’t want to be identified, said. “The person that died yesterday should get justice for this.”
The landlord, Rafael Tello, said the man living in the attic space had been working for him, but he was working toward evicting the man.
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“The guy broke into the apartment, and I started the eviction because everything was disconnected – no power, no heat, everything was out,” Tello said. “I started the eviction and he was looking for an apartment.”
Another man on the property, who said he also works for Tello, said the man upstairs was a “squatter.”
“The guy in the attic, he was trying to help him out in the beginning and he asked to leave because that wasn’t conditions livable for him, he left but then came back then just squatted,” Jose Torres said.
But the mayor’s office said illegal units in this building aren't a new issue.
“We’ve been out there numerous times going back to 2020,” Mayor Erin Stewart said. “This is for different issues each time. The third-floor illegal unit, we had been out there in 2020 and 2021. The City of New Britain Building and Health Department issued orders to evacuate, we issued notice of violation.”
The mayor said most recently, the city responded there after a tenant complained there was no heat. Previously, a second illegal apartment was reported on the first floor when it was made into two.
“Look at what happened,” she said. “Nobody wants to see this this close to Christmas, it’s terrible. Property owners need to be responsible and need to know the laws. You can’t have illegal apartments for a reason. You have to have two means of egress for a reason.”
She said state laws prevent cities from taking action beyond just issuing violations.
“We can only refer them to housing court, and oftentimes you don’t see these cases taken up quickly because they’re overwhelmed with the amount of cases they have,” the mayor said. “We should have the opportunity to take action. I don’t believe the laws will allow for that.”
The displaced tenants are being put up by the Red Cross in a local hotel. The cause of the fire is still under investigation.
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