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FARMINGTON – The local fire department is looking forward to a hopefully restful weekend after a busy couple of evenings earlier this week.
Tuesday evening, just before midnight, Farmington Fire Rescue responded to reports of smoke at an apartment building at 112 Church Street. According to Fire Chief Terry Bell, the attic of an apartment on the second floor, belonging to a James Murphy, had caught fire after a ceiling light in kitchen burst into flames.
The department evacuated three other nearby apartments and extinguished the fire after cutting a hole in the roof. No injuries were reported, and the inhabitants of the three nearby apartments have since returned to their homes.
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Roughly 24 hours later, on Thursday morning just after midnight, the department responded to reports of a structure fire in an apartment at the Ethel Walton Apartments Retirement Homes, which are located off of Titcomb Hill Road.
A resident living in an apartment at 114 Thompson Walton Court, Bell said, had apparently fallen asleep while smoking. Upon awaking to find a blaze had started, the resident unsuccessfully tried to put out the fire himself.
Farmington Fire Rescue, along with assistance from Wilton and Temple summoned through mutual aid calls, responded to the scene. Along with Farmington Police Department and NorthStar Ambulance personnel, rescue workers moved quickly to evacuate 42 people from the complex.
The combination of the fire and a large-scale evauation, Bell said, created a situation which his department trains for but rarely experiences.
“It was quite tense for a while,” Bell said.
The department established a head count and swept through the facility to make certain everyone had gotten out of the building. Meanwhile, crews worked to extinguish the blaze which had begun creeping up the outer walls of the building, reaching but not entering the second floor.
Four residents were taken to Franklin Memorial Hospital, including the burning apartment’s occupant, with smoke-inhalation related complaints. Mt. Blue Regional School District provided a school bus which the department used to provide temporary shelter for the displaced evacuees. Bell said that many residents have since been able to return to some apartments in the wing.
All in all, Bell said, it had been a busy couple of days.
“Time to take some time off,” he joked today.
