Fire in New London apartment building quickly extinguished

New London - City firefighters on Saturday night extinguished a small fire in a six-unit apartment building on Ocean Avenue.

The fire was contained to one first-floor unit at Ocean Beach Apartments, 1117 Ocean Ave. Two tenants said they believed the fire, which was mostly smoke, started after power was restored to the building around 8 p.m.

Lt. Jonathan Paige, the acting battalion chief, said it appeared the fire would displace the person who lived in the apartment where it started. That tenant was not home at the time of the fire, according to her neighbors.

The cause of the fire is under investigation, Other tenants waited late Saturday for a building inspector to rule whether they could return to their apartments. Sam Foxx, who lives in an upstairs unit, said he took his first hot shower at home in nearly a week after power was restored. He later went to sleep, but his neighbors woke him up by banging on the walls.

"It's disappointing that as soon as we get the power turned backed on the building catches on fire," Foxx said.

jeff.johnson@theday.com