Empty borough home burns to the ground

0
70
A fire destroyed a vacant home at 100 Hunters Mountain Road, or the end of Old Highway Road, in Naugatuck early Sunday morning. –RA ARCHIVE
A fire destroyed a vacant home at 100 Hunters Mountain Road, or the end of Old Highway Road, in Naugatuck early Sunday morning. –RA ARCHIVE

NAUGATUCK — A concrete sphinx guarded the blackened remains of a home at 100 Hunters Mountain Road on Sunday morning.

The Naugatuck Fire Department responded to the fire shortly before 2 a.m. Sunday, but by the time they arrived on scene, the house was fully engulfed in flames and had partially collapsed, Fire Marshal Robert Weaver said.

A caller spotted the flames at 1:50 a.m. while walking his dog on Horton Hill Road, a 4.5-mile drive away, Weaver said.

Firefighters first responded to Horton Hill Road before realizing their mistake and driving across town to the wood-shingled home at the end of Old Highway Road, Weaver said.

By the time they arrived, the fire had already been burning for an estimated one to two hours, Weaver said.

No one was injured, he said.

Two pumper trucks and two tankers had trouble making it up the barely-paved narrow road in the secluded part of town, Weaver said. The tankers had to be called in from Beacon Falls and Oxford because there are no fire hydrants in the wooded area, he said.

Weaver said it took about two hours to knock down the fire, but the fire department spent all morning putting out hot spots.

The house has been empty for a little over a year, Weaver said, but was still connected to electricity.

The property is listed as belonging to Billy Carvalho, according to Naugatuck’s assessor’s database.

According to the database, the house was built in 1924 and is part of a 36-acre parcel assessed at $245,790.

Although the home is listed at 100 Hunters Mountain Road, it is actually at the end of Old Highway Road.

Weaver said police told him the spot was a hang-out for young people, though he didn’t know whether anyone had been there the previous cold, snowy night.

He said the cause of the fire is under investigation.

Both the 864-square-foot home and a 576-square-foot detached garage were completely destroyed along with several trees in the vicinity.

Firefighters had to chop down one evergreen that had been half burnt. Other trees were charred stumps.

One concrete chimney, half of a brick chimney, the front steps and a small corner of a wall were all that remained of the main house. A car in the garage was too burnt to determine its make or model.

Weaver said someone would knock down the chimneys before they fall.