But the retired teacher and principal longs for her former home of 30 years in the Coachlight Square condominium complex. It was destroyed along with 18 other units May 1 when a fire of undetermined origin raced through the building, leaving about 40 residents homeless.

"I went out with the clothes on my back," she said, nearly two months after the blaze.

Nobriga, who also served on the Board of Education, said she and her neighbors — some had to relocate to Stamford and as far as New Jersey — all want to return to their North End condos.

Meanwhile, Nobriga, with the help of her insurance company, found an apartment in the Avalon Gates complex on Old Town Road in Trumbull.

She didn't have much to move; the fire spared little. Her insurance company will pay for Nobriga to rent furniture.

"I have no pictures of my family anymore," she said.

She also lost other valued personal possessions, like tapes of Michael Jordan, her favorite basketball player, and audiotapes and 78-rpm records of Hawaiian music.

The fire pains Joyce Dollmann, the head of the condo association, in another way, although her unit was undamaged.

"We drive by here every day and see this," she said of the ruined cluster of condos.

Complete repairs could take a year, she said.

The cause of the fire remains undetermined, said Fire Chief Brian Rooney.

"The insurance companies took over the investigation. We didn't have a definite cause," he said.

But the chief said an electrical cause has been ruled out.

One insurance company's investigators, however, are looking at a gas grill as a possible cause and are taking apart the propane-powered grill from one of the damaged condo units. The grill was heavily burned in the fire and the propane tank exploded, Rooney said.

"They're focusing on the grill," the chief said. He could not recall which insurance company is inspecting the grill.

As displaced residents await word on what started the fire, rebuilding efforts are under way, Dollmann said.

The condo board has been talking with building contractors and an architect needs to be hired, she said.

"There's a lot going on. We're moving ahead," she said.

"We're in touch with everyone" who was forced out, she added.

Meanwhile, city fire officials hope fire-safety awareness will rise from the ashes of the Coachlight disaster.

Rooney wants to add restrictions on grills at multi-family homes to the city's fire code.

The proposal would prohibit igniting Hibachis, gas-fired or charcoal grills, or similar cooking or heating devices on a balcony or under overhanging parts of multi-family dwellings. It also would restrict placing any such devices within 10 feet of a structure.

Currently, grills are allowed on balconies under the Coachlight Condominiums' bylaws, Dollmann said.

The proposal is under review by the City Council's Ordinance Committee.

"We're trying to prevent that from happening again," Rooney said of the disastrous, fast-moving blaze. "It's an obligation of the Fire Department to promote fire safety as best we can."

For its part, the City Council is calling for a citywide survey that would recommend ways to avoid similar blazes in other multi-unit complexes.

Part of Coachlight's problem was that its construction pre-dated some provisions of the fire code. The burned units had a common attic, without firewalls or stops, Rooney said.

A 25-mph wind propelled the flames through the space, he said.

Coachlight is one of the first condo complexes built in the city about 35 years ago. Others from that era likely were built with the same construction methods and could pose the same fire potential, officials said.

While the city can't force the complexes to bring the buildings up to new code, the Fire Department is encouraging the condominium associations to do so, Rooney said.

Both Dollmann and Nobriga said they support the fire-safety recommendations in other parts of Coachlight and other complexes.

"I think they have to do something with the condos," Nobriga said. "We can't do this twice."

She added she is willing to wait a year to return home.

"I just want to enjoy life. I don't want to start over," Nobriga said.

The Southeastern Fairfield County chapter of the American Red Cross spent about $16,000 to help the displaced Coachlight residents. To donate to the chapter's disaster-relief services, call 576-1010.