The Associated Press
NEW HAVEN, Conn. — Three people died in an overnight house fire and eight others were injured, including some who jumped from windows to escape, officials said Wednesday.
The fire was reported just before 2 a.m. Wednesday in a multifamily home in the city’s Fair Haven section, New Haven Fire Chief Michael Grant said. The preliminary investigation found it started in a second-floor stairwell and spread to the third floor, where the three victims were found.
Their names were not immediately released. Eight people, including three children, were hospitalized with injuries that were not considered life-threatening, Grant said.
Arson investigators from the Connecticut State Fire Marshal’s Office joined city firefighters later Wednesday morning at the scene, though the fire’s cause remained undetermined.
Witnesses described a chaotic scene of people trying to rescue residents and comfort those who had escaped.
“I was sleeping and woke up to the sound of screaming, people screaming ‘My baby, my baby,’ and I saw people lowering children out of the second-floor balcony,” Jadine Small told The Hartford Courant.
“We’re all really sad, especially hearing about the deaths and we’re praying for the families involved,” she said.
The American Red Cross is working with people displaced by the fire, a spokesman said Wednesday.