WALLINGFORD, Conn. — A dozen apartments were destroyed and others severely damaged in a fire that happened Wednesday afternoon at the Terrace Gardens complex.
According to officials, 12 apartments in total are considered a total loss. The entire building has been deemed uninhabitable by the building department.
The American Red Cross said 38 people in total, including 14 children were displaced because of the fire.
Two firefighters were treated for minor injuries in the incident which started around 1:30 p.m.
Reports from the scene indicated a mailman ran and banged on multiple doors to let people know to get out when it first started.
“I told him, I said you're basically a hero and he laughed. I was like, No, really. You got everybody out, like the animals were darting out you got everybody out of the building,” said Jill Sault who lives in a neighboring building.
The fire quickly spread to three floors and the attic which presented a challenge to firefighters to get the flames under control before the fire spread to other parts of the building.
“That's where the difficulty in these types of buildings lies. They're open attics, they do have firewalls on each end. But these buildings are approximately 60 years old and the firewalls we found to be compromised,” said Joe Czentnar, Wallingford Fire Chief.
The fire chief said one of the apartments had hoarding conditions, and some oxygen tanks also caught fire adding fuel to the fire.
The complex is located just off of South Colony Road, in the area to the east of the Audi dealership. It consists of about a half dozen buildings in the complex.
The cause of the fire has not yet been determined and is being investigated by the Wallingford Fire Marshall.
This is a developing story, check back for details.
Doug Stewart is a Senior Digital Content Producer at FOX61 News. He can be reached at dstewart@fox61.com.
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