Fire at empty apartment building in Hartford

HARTFORD, Conn. (WTNH) -- Firefighters were called in to fight a fire at a vacant apartment building on Westland Street in Hartford Wednesday morning.

Nobody was supposed to be in the three story brick apartment on Westland Street near Acton, in fact, nobody has lived there for years, but somehow a fire started on the back porch early Wednesday morning.

Neighbors noticed the smoke around 5 a.m. Firefighters went inside the building at first, but the roof collapsed and it became clear there was nothing inside to save.
 
"And then the incident commander made the decision for their safety to pull them out and do what we call a defensive operation, and that is to surround the building with water from above," explained Hartford Fire Capt. James McLoughlin.

The building is empty, as is the one next to it. The good news is they are building lots of new houses just one block away. However, neighbors tell News 8 that they worry about fires in the abandoned buildings. They also worry about the proximity of another fire last week.

Early last Thursday morning, fire gutted a three story brick apartment building about three blocks away on Capen Street. It also seemed to start on the back porch. The main difference, that building had three families living inside.

Fire officials are still waiting to determine the cause of that, and Wednesday's fire has been ruled suspicious as well.

"The fire marshal's office is on scene investigating the cause and origin and working with the license and inspection division to come up with as much information as we can," McLoughlin said.

Fortunately, no one was hurt in either fire.