Five injured in Stonington house fire
Stonington — Five people were injured during a Thursday morning fire that displaced seven residents from a home on Pequot Trail.
According to Old Mystic Fire Department Deputy Chief Bob Sullivan, two of those injured in the fire at 973 Pequot Trail were residents of the home, while three were firefighters.
A caller reported the fire at 7:25 a.m.
Outside, Phillip Gwiazdowski, who lives next door at 977 Pequot Trail, said those who live at the homes at 973 and 977 are all family.
Gwiazdowski said one of the people sent to the hospital was his stepdaughter and another was his uncle, Darryl Allen. His uncle, he said, had stopped breathing for a time.
"We just got word from the hospital that he is breathing on his own, and that's a sigh of relief," he said.
Allen was listed Thursday afternoon in critical condition at Lawrence + Memorial Hospital, a hospital spokesman said.
Sullivan said family members helped the two injured people out of the house before fire crews arrived.
All three firefighters had minor injuries, Sullivan said.
Smoke was pouring from the house nearly three hours after the fire was reported.
A tanker task force, consisting of trucks from multiple towns, worked to provide water to the site.
Gwiazdowski said he wasn’t sure yet what started the fire, but that one of the residents of 973 had been cooking breakfast when it started.
A couple family members, including his stepdaughter, were downstairs when the fire began, he explained.
“They say God won’t give you nothing you can’t handle,” Gwiazdowski said. “We got our test this morning.”
Sullivan said two of the injured firefighters were hurt while outside, while the other may have sustained injuries while inside the house.
The floor conditions, as well as reports of a sagging roof, ultimately prevented firefighters from fighting the fire from inside the building, Sullivan said.
He said their inability to locate "hot spots" made it difficult to put out the blaze.
In addition to Old Mystic, the Wequetequock, North Stonington, Submarine Base and Ashaway, R.I. fire departments also responded to the scene.
Editor's note: This version corrects the address at which Phillip Gwiazdowski resides.
Comment threads are monitored for 48 hours after publication and then closed.
