Fire That Destroyed CT Home on Thanksgiving Apparently Caused by Someone Frying Turkey, Officials Say

Nov. 29—WESTON — A fire that erupted at a large home on Weston Road on Thanksgiving Day started in the garage after someone tried to fry a turkey, officials said Friday.

The Weston Volunteer Fire Department said crews were dispatched to the home around 3:40 p.m. Thursday.

The blaze was so intense that it pushed back responding firefighters, John Pokorny, Weston’s fire marshal, said Friday.

But despite the intensity of the conflagration, the approximately 25 people who were celebrating the holiday inside the home escaped safely and no injuries were reported, said Pokorny, who also serves as fire chief.

The department has spent more than 16 hours battling the blaze, the department said in a Friday afternoon update.

The home was at least 10,000 square feet, according to Pokorny and land records. The records show the property was assessed at $2.8 million.

Firefighters initially were notified by an automatic alarm, followed by a call reporting a fire in the garage, he said. By the time firefighters arrived, “the garage end of the house was completely in flame,” and crews were driven back by the intense heat, he said.

The fire then extended up into the home and eventually engulfed it entirely, photos from the scene showed.

“It accelerated really rapidly,” Pokorny said.

Dangerous conditions and structural collapse have made putting out the fire difficult, the department said in the release. Water supply also stopped for several minutes after a vehicle drove over the water supply hose, the department said Friday afternoon.

Eversource and a gas company also responded to shut off the home’s utilities, Pokorny said.

The call drew in multiple agencies from surrounding towns, including Ridgefield, Redding, Wilton and Westport, Pokorny said. Some of those crews were responsible for covering the town’s fire department while local crews were at the scene.

The West Redding Fire Department, the Georgetown Fire Department and the Easton Fire Department also provided support, as did the American Red Cross and Salvation Army, the department said.

Crews remained at the scene Friday and were putting out remaining hot spots, Pokorny said.

“You get pieces of debris and it’s burning underneath and the water from the top just doesn’t get to it,” Pokorny said at the scene.

He said the roughly 25 people who were at the home Thursday got out quickly.

“When we arrived, the whole garage end of the house was on fire — like a third of the house,” Pokorny said.

The heat from the fire melted plastic on some of the cars parked in the driveway, he said.

A yellow hose stretched from West Branch Road down to the site on Weston Road.

“We had a great water supply,” Pokorny said. “Really, the issue was the fire had progressed so much by the time we arrived on the scene.”

Cars with Christmas trees strapped to their roofs drove by the scene Friday afternoon.

Chandler Vinton, who was working at Weston Gardens across the street, said she and others at the business were “very saddened” by the destruction.

But she said she was glad that it had rained recently.

“Otherwise, the whole area would have been a tinderbox,” Vinton said.

___

(c)2024 the New Haven Register (New Haven, Conn.)

Visit the New Haven Register (New Haven, Conn.) at www.nhregister.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

firefighters rescue woman

Fire at Rio De Janeiro’s Carnival Costume Factory Leaves 10 Hospitalized

A fire Wednesday at a Rio de Janeiro factory that produces costumes for the city's iconic Carnival left 10 people hospitalized.

After Three Fire Deaths, FDNY Asks People to Quit Blocking Hydrants

This week, two deadly fires—one in Brooklyn and another in the Bronx—have highlighted a persistent problem in New York City: blocked fire hydrants.