Fire Rips Through Oxford Home

Local and state fire marshals are investigating the cause of a fire that ripped through an unoccupied home at 17 Edgewood Road early Thursday morning.

The fire was called in at 12:45 a.m. by a neighbor who saw flames shooting from the top of the ranch-style home in a quiet residential neighborhood, firefighters said.

Within minutes, roughly 60 firefighters from Oxford and three neighboring communities were on scene using pumper trucks to douse the home, which was fully engulfed when firefighers arrived, Oxford Fire Chief Scott Pelletier said.

Firefighters used a ladder truck and shot water down onto the house; they were able to get the fire under control within 40 minutes, he said. Still, the house was deemed a complete loss by the town's building inspector.

Although nobody was injured, Pelletier called the incident "very unfortunate." A family recently purchased the house after it had been vacant for about two years.

That family was consoled by neighbors Thursday morning as they watched Pelletier, who is also the town's fire marshal, sift through the debris with members of the state fire marshal's office. The family, whose name could not be confirmed, declined to comment to reporters.

Pelletier said he called in the state fire marshal to "get an extra set of eyes because of the extent of the damage."

At 10 a.m., he said it was too early to tell what caused the fire or to say whether it is suspicious.

Firefighters did not have municipal water in the area, therefore there are no fire hydrants nearby. Therefore, firefighters from Oxford, Seymour, Beacon Falls and Southbury had to use pumper trucks to douse the flames, Pelletier said.

Edgewood Road resident Doug Mosher said he was impressed with how quickly emergency crews responded.

"Within minutes this whole street was filled with cops and firefighters," he said. "That was pleasent to see. ...Unfortunately, the house had been burning two or three minutes too long before they got there."

The fire occurred next door to where 94-year-old Ottilie Lundgren died after exposure to Anthrax on Nov. 16, 2001. Lundgren, whose tragic story consumed national news reports for weeks, lived at 16 Edgewood Road.

Click this report by News 8, an ABC news affiliate station in Connecticut, to see photos and videos of the fire.