Overnight blazes keep firefighters busy

NEW HAVEN, Conn. (WTNH) -- It was a busy morning for firefighters in New Haven Friday, as crews battled multiple blazes.

Flames lit up the night in the Elm City. Someone spotted the first fire around 4 a.m. at an abandoned building on Grand Ave. News 8 found flames pouring out of the second floor, some of them a strange green color.
  
The building has been abandoned for years, yet it has been in the news before. In 2004, two homeless people living inside were brutally murdered. Police arrested a suspect in 2011. Investigators are looking into whether anyone was squatting in the building last night when it caught fire.

"We'll go through the building very thoroughly to check for any homeless people who may be in there," said Chief Michael Grant, New Haven Fire Dept. "We're in the process of doing that now. It's a good shelter for the homeless people."
 
Just as firefighters got those flames under control, half of them were dispatched across town to another fire on Ellsworth Street. This fire was not at a vacant building though, it was at a 10-unit apartment building full of people who were fast asleep.

"I just heard a bang on the door and a guy on the first floor said fire and I just woke up, jumped up, and ran out the door," Timothy McDonald said.

McDonald and his kids ran out into the cold, some of them barefoot and shivering. The flames started on the ground floor on the far right of the building, but spread up and then over. Everyone got out safely, but the Red Cross estimates 16 people now need help finding somewhere to live.

"And the rest of the apartments are full of smoke," said Cynthia Smith. "They broke the windows, and she just had the house done. She just started remodeling the house."