By Nicholas Rondinone, The Hartford Courant
HARTFORD — A single-family home was damaged after a fire tore through the building Sunday afternoon on Colebrook Street.
Firefighters responded to 19 Colebrook St. about 3 p.m. and took an occupant of the home to safety through a third floor window, according to Hartford Fire Department Capt. James McLoughlin.
The man is being treated at St. Francis Hospital and Medical Center for smoke inhalation and cuts and bruises, McLoughlin said. A firefighter was also taken to St. Francis for evaluation because of a medical condition, McLoughlin said. He added the man was doing well.
The owner of the home, Louella Tate, was at church at the time of the fire. She said she received a call from her son and came home.
The man taken to the hospital, she said, was visiting from Africa and she had let him stay at her place. She said she has been living in the home for six years.
“If I hadn’t gone to church I’d be dead,” Tate said, adding that she believes the fire started in the room where she sleeps.
Tate said that she wasn’t sure what started the fire.
Marlene Hamilton-Taylor, who lives across the street at 24 Colebrook St., said she saw what appeared to be a small fire on the ground floor and called the fire department.
“All of the sudden it was really bad,” Hamilton-Taylor said.
McLoughlin said the fire marshal’s office is investigating the fire, and couldn’t say what started the fire.