Ten Fire Departments Respond To Blaze In Quaker Hill

A fire that broke out Saturday afternoon at a single family residence at 9 Laurel Glen Road in Quaker Hill has rendered a Waterford family temporarily homeless.

The 911 call came in at about 3:30 p.m. None of the home's four residents, which includes two kids, were in the house at the time but two cats and a bird perished in the fire.

It took firefighters about an hour to completely subdue the fire. Quaker Hill Fire Chief Mike Carson, who happens to live two houses down, arrived home from a family vacation in New Hampshire to find his street lined with firetrucks. 

In all, 10 fire departments responded: Quaker Hill, Cohanzie, Oswegatchie, Waterford, Jordan Village, Goshen, Montville, Flanders, East Lyme, and a ladder truck from New London. The massive mutual aid response wasn't because the blaze was so big but because the weather was so hot, Fire Marshal Peter Schlink explained.

With high humidity and temperatures in the 80s, firefighters wearing heavy protective gear battling a fire are at risk of heat exhaustion. Having additional firefighters on hand enables them to relieve each other, Schlink said. Ambulances and EMTs from Lawrence & Memorial and Waterford were on hand to provide assistance to the firefighters as needed.  

Waterford First Selectman Dan Steward left a wedding he had been attending to check on the status of the situation. "The guys have worked hard and are pretty much exhausted," Steward said, adding that the town is lucky to have so many fire departments that are willing and able to respond in emergencies. 

Carson said the blaze seemed to have originated in one of the bedrooms, although Schlink said he wouldn't be able to determine the point of origination or the cause of the fire until he had completed his investigation.

The Red Cross was on the scene assisting family members, who will have to find another place to stay until the fire, smoke, and water damage is repaired. The hole that firefighters had to cut in the roof to ventilate the building further renders the home uninhabitable. 

"The Red Cross will find a place for them," said Carson, who did not want to identify the family by name.