Woman seriously hurt in fire

03/31/2007

Mark Zaretsky , Register Staff

EAST HAVEN — A woman was seriously injured in a smoky fire that broke out Friday morning in her second-floor apartment in the Trolley Park Apartments complex at 500 Main St., Fire Chief Douglas F. Jackson said. The victim, who was not immediately identified, was without a pulse when firefighters first pulled her out of the building, but CPR administered by firefighters when she was pulled from the apartment, and by American Medical Response paramedics on the way to the hospital, brought it back, Jackson said.

"I know she caught a lot of smoke and I think she had some burns," Jackson said of the woman, who he said was transported initially to Yale-New Haven Hospital and later to Bridgeport Hospital. Bridgeport Hospital has a specialized burn unit.

Jackson said he called in firefighters from New Haven and Branford to assist at the scene because of the large number of people who needed to be evacuated after the fire broke out about 9 a.m. They joined virtually every firefighter and piece of fire equipment East Haven had, he said.

The Trolley Park complex has a lot of fire alarm boxes and "it’s notorious for pulled boxes," Jackson said. "This time we had a real fire, with heavy smoke in the hallways, and no one really paid attention to it" initially.

Jackson said he called in the additional firefighters, who have mutual aid pacts with East Haven, "because I needed a lot of bodies" because a lot of residents "needed assistance getting out."

In addition to the woman in whose apartment the fire started, firefighters carried out a man who lived on the third floor of the complex, he said. That man was treated on the ground but declined further treatment.

Flame damage was limited to the one apartment, but there was smoke damage to all of the hallways and into the rooms in that wing of the complex, Jackson said. The third floor of that wing also sustained moderate smoke damage, he said.

Water damage was limited to the apartment that had the fire, Jackson said.

He said he did not yet know the cause of the blaze. "Nothing looks suspicious, but I’m waiting for the state fire marshal to arrive on the scene," Jackson said. "Preliminary research points to accidental."

Mark Zaretsky can be reached at mzaretsky@nhregister.com or 789-5722.