Electrical fire on second floor of home

BRIDGEPORT, Conn. (WTNH) -- A fire that severely damaged a house in Bridgeport could have been related to Sandy.

It was a street with no power, but lit up by flames pouring out of a Bridgeport house.

The fire started around noon on the second floor of a multi-family house on Garfield Avenue. No one was hurt, as most residents weren't home when the fire started.

"Imagine if we were in the house, thank God we left to the mall, thank God nobody was there, my nephew, nobody, that's the only thing I'm happy about," said Margaret Farkas, "that no one was in our house."

The residents did arrive home shortly after it started and called 911.

"We jumped out of the car and ran up to the second floor and realized that the porch was on fire from electrical wire, we immediately started getting pots of water," said Joe Blakeman. "A gentleman helped us, but otherwise me and my friend were just throwing water on it to subside the fire until the fire department got here."

"It's the worst thing in the world to do," said Asst. Fire Chief Robert Morton. "Get out of the house, get your people, I'm telling this to the general public, get everybody out of the house, let it go."

The fire was put out in about 25 minutes, but significant damage has left the home unlivable.

"We think it's electrical because the fact that the fire started was right by the wires," said Farkas. "Nobody was home, nobody had a fire on and it's funny because the fire started right by the wire."

"We don't know at this point and that's up to UI and arson to check into that," said Chief Morton, "but there's no power on this street."