The Hartford Courant
HARTFORD, Conn. — An intense fire tore through an apartment building in the North End Thursday night, hospitalizing a firefighter and a building resident and displacing about 70 people, city officials said.
Reports of the fire at 2604 Main St. came in about 6:30 p.m. and quickly escalated to a third-alarm, a rare call to bring in firefighters and equipment from throughout the city, fire Chief Carlos Huertas said. “A third alarm is almost at the point … where we exhaust all our resources in the city,” he said.
All the residents in the buildings made it out and were accounted for as of about 9:30 p.m., city officials said.
“This is by far one of the worst fires I’ve seen in the city, in terms of witnessing it,” Hartford Mayor Pedro Segarra said. “The most important thing for me is that all the families and all the residents made it out.”
Officials estimated that 24 families, including 44 adults and 26 children, were driven out by the fire. Segarra and Huertas credited fire alarms in the building with helping the residents get out safely.
One of the three buildings in the complex was left uninhabitable, but officials said residents may be able to return to two nearby buildings. Those other structures will be assessed on Friday, Segarra said.
Heavy smoke and flames could be seen shooting up from the rear of the building shortly after firefighters arrived. At one point, three tower ladders were up spraying water from above.
“The amount of fire was very, very heavy according to initial reports from the incident commander,” Huertas said.
Both a firefighter and the resident in the building were taken to St. Francis Hospital and Medical Center smoke inhalation, officials said.
Segarra said strong winds and an asphalt roof were among the issues that made the fire dangerous.
“I want to commend the men and women of the Hartford fire department who did an outstanding job today considering all the issues the mayor mentioned,” Huertas said.
Segarra said pets inside the building were able to get out safely and just one cat had not been located.
While city crews battled the fire on Main Street, the city called in mutual aid from West Hartford and East Hartford to handle a fire on Lawrence Street near the intersection with Capitol Avenue, Huertas said. He said crews from those towns also manned city fire stations.
Main Street was closed as crews remained on the scene through the night. The fire marshal’s office is investigating the cause of the incident, Huertas said.
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