Fire officials are crediting smoke alarms for waking up a family in Fairfield and alerting them to an early morning fire on Tuesday.
Dispatchers received a 911 call from the occupants of a home on Birchwood Drive around 4 a.m. saying there was smoke coming from their basement.
When fire crews arrived, they said they found heavy smoke coming from the front door of the home.
The occupants of the home, which officials said included young children, were in the front yard. According to fire crews, the occupants told them everyone was out of the house and that there was a fire in the basement.
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Investigators said it was determined that there was a fire in the garage that connected to the basement. Crews were able to quickly extinguish the fire.
Firefighters began an extensive search and ventilation and found heavy smoke on multiple floors of the home, they said.
Authorities said the occupants of the home told them that they were woken up by the smoke alarms, saw the smoke, left the home and called 911.
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"The occupants of the home were extremely fortunate that they had working smoke alarms that alerted them to the fire. Had there not had been working smoke alarms, the outcome of this fire would have been much worse as the entire family was sleeping," Fairfield Fire Department Assistant Chief Schuyler Sherwood said.
The cause of the fire remains under investigation.
