Woman is killed in Groton apartment fire
Groton — A woman was killed Wednesday night in a fire in an apartment in the Branford Manor complex.
A man who knows the woman and her boyfriend said he tried to rescue her but was driven back by the flames and smoke as soon as he got inside and she was not able to make it out.
At the scene late Wednesday night, Groton City Police Chief Mike Spellman declined to say whether the woman had perished in the blaze, saying notification first had to be made to next of kin. He said police would be releasing more details about the fire Thursday morning.
Firefighters were called to unit 148 in Building 37 about 8:30 p.m for reports of a structure fire. It took until past 11 p.m. for the fire to be extinguished. Residents of several other units in the building had to be evacuated, and Spellman said they were being assisted by the Red Cross.
Firefighters from numerous area departments responded to the fire, as did state police, the state fire marshal's office and the New London State Attorney's office.
Michael Burdick, who lives nearby, said he and the woman's boyfriend were playing video games at the boyfriend's apartment when the woman's two children called asking the boyfriend to come over because they were hungry. He said his friend went to the apartment and then called him saying the woman was creating a disturbance and throwing items out of the apartment.
He said he was taking care of the two children in his car when the fire broke out. He said he and his friend tried to enter the apartment but were pushed back after just a few feet. He said they yelled for her to get out and jump out a window. But flames were coming from the windows.
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