Fire damages Montville home

Montville — A fire broke out late this afternoon at a Route 32 home when kindling that was placed to dry next to a wood stove caught on fire.

No one was injured and firefighters had the blaze under control within 30 minutes. The home at 1536 Norwich-New London Turnpike contains Family Dentistry, the practice owned and operated by Dr. Michael S. McKay. He also lives in the home.

McKay said he placed the kindling to dry next to the wood stove in the first floor of his practice. He headed upstairs, where he lives, to watch the Bourne Supremacy on television before smelling smoke and going back downstairs.

He said he immediately left the home and called 911 and firefighters were on scene a brief time later. The initial call came in at 5:04 p.m. and smoke was emanating from the building when firefighters arrived, Fire Marshal Raymond Occhialini said.

Firefighters from the Montville, Mohegan and Oakdale departments responded and additional support was provided by the Mohegan Tribal Fire Department.

McKay said he has lived in the home since 1974 and opened his dentistry practice there in 1976. He said he thought the brunt of the damage caused by the fire would be in his practice’s waiting room.

Occhialini said firefighters were helped by a fire hydrant that was directly across the street from the home. Recent fires in other areas of town without hydrants, such as Oakdale, have called for crews to transport water in tanker trucks. The Oakdale department’s tanker truck was on scene today.