Two Old Lyme cottages destroyed in fire

OLD LYME, Conn. (WTNH0 - Investigators in Old Lyme are trying to figure out what sparked a fire that damaged two beach cottages.

The flames broke out last night on Hartford Avenue.

This is just the start of the summer season, so having this fire now is certainly a hardship for the owners of the duplex who were hoping to rent out the units during the season. Also the owners of the home next door would come down and enjoy it on the weekends.

Only workers surround the two damaged homes now. They are being boarded up for protection against weather and vandals.

Tuesday night they were surrounded by firefighters and neighbors who watched as flames jumped from 28 Hartford Avenue to the duplex next door.

"Ya know this is the money season," says Peter Grimaldi of Old Lyme."

Two homes are now out of commission. The nearby fire hydrant wasn't used to fight the fire.

"You know the pressure. They only have so much pressure," says Grimaldi.

Instead firefighters had to beef up man power. Several departments brought in tanker trucks and ran a line to a nearby pond to get water to the burning buildings.

Grimaldi says fires are not usually a big concern for residents of Old Lyme because they do not happen very often.

But many remember a fire that happened more than two decades ago which destroyed three homes all in a row.

"Oh that's the way they were built. What are you gonna do," says Dennis Kerwin of Old Lyme.

Some residents heard the explosion of a propane tank when the fire started. The Old Lyme fire marshall says the cause and exact location of where it started is under investigation.

The fire hydrant is located just across the street from the two homes which did burn, but like in many communities there isn't enough pressure in those hydrants for them to be used for fire suppression, so that's why tanker trucks have to be brought in.