Text by Christine Dempsey and Hilda Muñoz, Hartford Courant; video by Angelica Spanos, FOX CT
HARTFORD — One person was killed in a fire at a three-family home on Bedford Street early Tuesday, officials said.
All three floors of the brick building at 62-64 Bedford St. were occupied when the fire broke out at 5:37 a.m., police said.
Firefighters arrived in minutes and rescued a 43-year-old and a 7-year-old from the first floor. A third person on the first floor died, said fire department spokesman Capt. James McLoughlin.
He did not disclose the age of the victim, but a woman who identified herself as the grandmother said the victim was a 4-year-old girl.
A man who identified himself as the girl’s father cried near the scene of the fire while a woman comforted him. The family got into a car and went to the hospital without commenting.
The second and third floor residents had gotten out of the building on their own by the times firefighters arrived, McLoughlin said.
A Hartford police officer was one of the first responders at the scene and injured his knee trying to kick down a back door, McLoughlin said.
The cause of the fire remains under investigation, but it appears it started on the first floor.
McLoughlin said the fire caused extensive damage on the first floor and some damage on the second and third floors.
The fire department’s special services unit is working to relocate the displaced second and third floor residents. The first-floor residents were taken to the hospital.