Multiple Alarms Announced Fire on Maple Avenue

Alarms simultaneously went off at the Municipal Building and the Bethel Public Library at approximately 8:15 on Tuesday night, in the middle of the Board of Education presentation to the Board of Finance. 

As all of the attendees filed out of the building, Beth Cavanaugh, Inland Wetlands Committee, said there was a fire on Maple Avenue. 

At first, many assumed the multiple alarms were the result of a prank. However, Fire Chief Fred Ingram said the alarms were most likely caused by the opening of fire hydrants about a mile away. The hydrants were opened to extinguish the fire at 41 Maple Ave.

 Sal Esposito, 40 year resident, said that the fire in his home was caused by an arc in the wiring of the dryer, located in the lower level of the house. “All of a sudden the lights began to flicker. My son and daughter-in-law live downstairs, and they had just put some clothes in the dryer.”

 “I was just beginning to doze off,” Nancy Esposito, Joseph's wife, said.

 Esposito said the house filled with smoke and he and Nancy were able to exit from the back door, and were able to bring their two dogs out of the house. A firefighter brought the mother-in-law's bird out of the house. Ironically, the bird's name was Smoky.

 The dryer was the top half of a Kenmore stacked washer/dryer set. According to fire fighters, the walls were opened up but no fire was found. The home sustained smoke and water damage.