FIrefighters Battle 2 Blazes, Rescue Woman

“That was my apartment,” William Griffin said ruefully as he watched New Haven firefighters in the window of his second-story home on Howard Avenue that was largely destroyed.

Gould (pictured) moved into the three-story building at 543 Howard Ave. in March. He was standing right outside the building at 4:05 p.m. Monday when a fire started. The building soon went up in flames.

One woman was trapped in another apartment in the yellow building near the intersection of Howard and Carlisle. (Watch the Register’s Bill Kaempffer’s interview with the woman here.) The building holds two stories of apartments over a small convenience store called the Howard Market.

It was one of two blazes that firefighters tackled Monday at the same time in the Hill and Fair Haven.

Fire Captain William Gould, the supervisor at the scene, said he was driving by and he saw fire shooting out of the second- and third-story windows. He called for backup for a three-alarm fire. Fifty firefighters showed up and put out the fire in 15 minutes, he said.

Firefighters rescued the woman who was trapped on the third floor, Gould said. She was taken to the hospital. No injuries were reported.

Gould said the fire appears to have ignited in the front rooms of the second floor. He wasn’t sure how many people live in the building. There was significant damage to the third and second floors, and it remains to be seen whether the building will be salvaged or torn down.

Howard Market manager Ramzy Amin said he was still in the store when people outside told him the second and third floors were on fire. Then he rushed outside.

“There was no fire within the store,” Amin said; he believed it might still be salvageable.

Gould said most of the damage the building sustained was in the front portion of the second and third floors. The first floor and rear of the building could turn out OK, he said.

Neighbors stood outside for about an hour after the fire, watching the cleanup efforts.

“I thought there was a fight going on outside,” said Tawanda Mills, who lives in the apartment building next door and heard someone yelling upstairs. Then she ran outside with her cat, Moomk, and saw the flames. ​“The wires were sparking and everything.”

Mills had just moved in to her new place two weeks ago.

Fire Chief Michael Grant Tuesday morning said the cause of the fire remains under investigation. He said the Red Cross put up the displaced families.

Across town Monday afternoon, firefighters put out another blaze at 238 Clinton Ave. At least one person was treated for smoke inhalation.

The fire began in the kitchen and spread to some other areas, but remained as a first-alarm fire, according to Assistant Fire Chief Pat Egan. It was called in at 4:38 p.m., he said.

The two fires stretched the department to its thinnest.

The fire on Howard Avenue became a three-alarm fire — that is, one requiring 55 firefighters to tackle it — at 4:24 p.m., Egan said.

Fourteen minutes later, firefighters in Fair Haven spotted the Clinton Avenue house in flames. That required another 24 people to rush to that scene, a demand that exceeded the city’s usual staffing level of 73 firefighters, Egan said.

“There was just enough time in between” the two fires so that the staff could handle it, Egan said: By 4:38 p.m., firefighters on Howard Avenue had gotten the blaze under control enough to spare some extra firefighters to send to the next assignment on Clinton Avenue.

The fire took place at 4:05 p.m. at 500 Howard Ave., a three-story yellow building near the intersection of Howard and Spring. The building holds two stories of apartments over a small convenience store called the Howard Market.

It was one of two blazes that firefighters tackled Monday at the same time in the Hill and Fair Haven.

Fire Captain William Gould, the supervisor at the scene, said he was driving by and he saw fire shooting out of the second and third-story windows. He called for backup for a three-alarm fire. Fifty firefighters showed up and put out the fire in 15 minutes, he said.

Firefighters rescued a woman who was trapped on the third floor, Gould said. She was taken to the hospital. No injuries were reported.

Gould said he didn’t know how the fire started, but it appears to have ignited in the front rooms of the second floor. He wasn’t sure how many people live in the building. There was significant damage to the third and second floors, and it remains to be seen whether the building will be salvaged or torn down.

Across town, firefighters put out another blaze 238 Clinton Ave. At least one person was treated for smoke inhalation.

The fire began in the kitchen and spread to some other areas, but remained as a first-alarm fire, according to Assistant Fire Chief Pat Egan. It was called in at 4:38 p.m., he said.

The two fires stretched the department to its thinnest.

The fire on Howard Avenue became a third-alarm fire — that is, one requiring 55 firefighters to tackle it — at 4:24 p.m., Egan said.

Fourteen minutes later, firefighters in Fair Haven spotted the Clinton Avenue house in flames. That required another 24 people to rush to that scene, a demand that exceeded the city’s usual staffing level of 73 firefighters, Egan said.

“There was just enough time in between” the two fires so that the staff could handle it, Egan said: By 4:38 p.m., firefighters on Howard Avenue had gotten the blaze under control enough to spare some extra firefighters to send to the next assignment on Clinton Avenue.

Chief Grant said the Clinton Avenue fire started with someone cooking.