NAUGATUCK — Fire destroyed a second-story bedroom on Moore Avenue on Sunday night.
Tom Storace was enjoying a quiet summer evening on his back deck at 48 Moore Ave. when he heard his smoke detector go off.
He ran into his house to find smoke pouring out over his bedroom door. He opened the door to see flames leaping off the air conditioner.
“It happened so fast … smoke and flames just came flying out,” he said.
Firefighters were on the scene within four minutes after receiving the call at 7:27 p.m. and knocked the fire down in 12 minutes.
While waiting for firefighters to arrive, Storace grabbed his garden hose to keep the fire at bay.
“That whole floor would’ve been gone,” he said.
No one was injured, and Storace’s two cats and dog were safe, he said.
The fire damaged the bedroom and melted the vinyl siding around the window. There was heat and smoke damage throughout the second floor, according to Fire Captain Richard Alfes, and some of the 75 gallons of water used to put out the fire leaked downstairs.
Alfes said everyone was out of the house when the firefighters arrived.
As of this post, the cause of the fire was under investigation.
