BRIDGEPORT — It didn't surprise Jorge Colon that a man fled from the house at 712 Shelton St. Thursday afternoon, begging for neighbors to call 911.

The long-abandoned house, which neighbors say is frequented by drug users, was on fire. "I'm surprised it hasn't happened sooner," said the 27-year-old East-Side resident after the 1 p.m. fire had been extinguished.

Others described the "junky house" as a rat- and cockroach-infested place where addicts flock to escape police patrols.

In fact, in the last two weeks, a man known to neighbors as "Red" overdosed inside the house four times, Colon said. Each time, paramedics took him away he was "blue-in-the-face" and almost dead, neighbors said.

"If we're made aware of it, an officer is going to respond to that area," said police Lt. James Viadero, department spokesman. "If it's a habitual problem, our narcotics division will focus on it."

By the time firefighters had doused the blaze, an arson investigation team was at the scene, ready to dissect the building's charred shell for clues.

Fire Battalion Chief Bruce Elander called the fire "very suspicious." The house lacks electricity, fuel and gas, he said.

Firefighters on the scene lamented the fact that today they will lose Engine Co. 5, which the city is shutting down to save money.

The fire would have been harder to fight without the firefighters dispatched from Engine Co. 5, they said.

"The city is pennywise and pound foolish," Elander said.

And although he could not say whether someone set the fire or whether a vagrant accidentally ignited it, neighbors had no doubt about the cause.

Hugo Cruz said he routinely sees drug users go in and out of the house. They use fire to prepare to smoke or inject their drugs, he said.

Despite routine complaints from Cruz and other neighbors, the city has done nothing to stem the flow of narcotics into the house, he said.

"The police know," he said. "Everybody knows what's going on."

Cruz gets rid of the hypodermic needles he regularly finds in front of the house because he is afraid that children will find them.

Diego Torres, 52, said he previously was forced to stop in front of the house because dealers stepped into the street in front of his car.

He said the dealers asked him: "What are you looking for?" They sometimes offered him "slab" or "diesel" — street euphemisms for crack-cocaine and heroin, respectively.

"At nighttime, this is hell around here," Torres said of the neighborhood.