UPDATE: Greenwich Fire Marshals Investigate Cause of Backcountry House Fire

Updated: 9:45 a.m. March 25

Greenwich fire marshals were sifting through the remains of in Greenwich backcountry home Wednesday morning, looking for clues on what started a stubborn fire in the Tudor-style home on Tuesday night.

Firefighters responded to Clapboard Ridge Road after receiving a report of smoke in the area at 6:45 p.m. and “they located a building on fire (at 178 Clapboard Ridge) and we upgraded our response. The building was occupied by one person who we escorted out of the building,” Deputy Fire Chief Brian Koczak said Wednesday morning.

Koczak said of the elderly female resident, firefighters “had difficulty removing her from the building. She was hindering our firefighting operations. She went back into the building and we had to go in and locate her and bring her back out. Greenwich Police assisted to keep her out once we located her.”

Koczak said, “It was an aggressive attack with fire between the first and second floor ceiling and floor structures and also on the exterior walls.” He added, “it was a stubborn fire. The house had been renovated many times and there were numerous layers of ceiling and floor materials that made it difficult to get into the voids.”

It took 30 firefighters nearly two hours to bring the blaze under control, Koczak said. Crews remained on the scene until about 10 p.m. No injuries were reported.

“Please stress the importance of evacuating a building that’s on fire,” Koczak said.

Original story: 7:30 p.m. March 24

Crews from the Greenwich Fire Department and surrounding volunteer departments were trying to extinguish a fire in a backcountry Greenwich home Tuesday night.

Crews were summoned to a home in the area of 181 Clapboard Ridge Rd. shortly after 7 p.m. Tuesday.

According to Greenwich Fire radio dispatches there was an an active fire not under control when crews arrived about 7:11 p.m.

A Greenwich fire marshal and the Greenwich Emergency Medical Service also have been dispatched to the scene.

Check back for more details.

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