Boston Post Road Fire Devastates Waterford Family

Friday was a bad day for Jen Adams and her family.

On Friday just past 4 p.m., Adams’ seventh-grade daughter and husband were inside their rented home at 520 Boston Post Road, when all of a sudden Adams' daughter saw a “bright orange glow” outside on the patio. She went to check it out, and quickly realized it was a fire.

Adams’ husband and daughter ran out of the house, along with two of the family’s four dogs. The other two dogs, though, followed their instinct to hide and ran under the bed in the master bedroom, and would die of smoke inhalation.

A 9-1-1 call was made at 4:08 p.m., and the first fire crew showed up at 4:10 p.m., according to Jordan Fire Chief Tim Sullivan. It took firefighters from Waterford, New London and East Lyme about 10 minutes to put out the flames, but at that point the entire inside of the house was destroyed, Sullivan said.

The family has no renter’s insurance, Adams said. Adams recently took in her infant grandson, who was at daycare at the time of the fire. She said all of her possessions, even all of her clothes, were destroyed.

“I don’t know what I’m going to do,” Adams said, and then she broke into tears.

Details

Two of the dogs ran out with Adams’ daughter and husband. The other two dogs ran under the bed, which is their instinct, Waterford-East Lyme Animal Control Officer Robert Yuchniuk said.

Yuchniuk said that’s common, as dogs’ instincts tell them to hide instead of run when they smell smoke. Many times, a dog will hide and then die of smoke inhalation, he said.

After the fire, Adams and her family were consoling each other, with most of them breaking into tears and then regaining composure. Adams said she had no other clothes besides the clothes on her back, and was worried she would get no assistance from the fire because she has no renter’s insurance.