Danbury(Fairfield) -Working Fire 7-27-07

[DFD801 0]

Date: 7-27-07

Time:0730

Location: 86 Driftway Rd.

Frequency:

Units Operating: Engines 21,22,24,25, Truck 1, Car 30, Car 45, Danbury EMS, Tankers from various Danbury Volunteer Fire Co.'s

Description Of Incident: Working Fire In Attached Garage And Car Fire

Writer: DFD801

Shortly after shift change, DFD was dispatched to this fire. Due to lack of hydrants in this area, the Brothers knocked down the garage, the car and protected the house using only the 1500 gallons of tank water from the first three arriving engines. Tankers arrived soon afterwards. The following story is from the News Times. Use the link for pictures.

http://www.newstimeslive.com/news/story.php?id=1060131&source=big_barker#tt

DANBURY -- Mousa Mityas wandered dazed and stunned Friday around his yard after a fire destroyed his two-car garage and the furnishings stored there as well as his car that morning.

The rest of the two-bedroom home at 86 Driftway Road was heavily damaged by smoke.

Mityas wandered through the house, putting belongings in plastic yard bags and trying to comprehend the morning's events. His wife, Adele, waited patiently while friends cut plywood to cover windows where glass was broken.

"I feel so bad for them," said neighbor Roger Bertalovitz. "Mousa was in the kitchen making a cup of coffee. He had just returned from his morning walk. The doorbell by the garage end of the house rang and he went to answer it. That's when he saw the flames."

Bertalovitz first became aware of the blaze when he saw Mityas running across his yard yelling "Fire! Fire!"

"At that point, flames were about 40 feet up in the air," Bertalovitz said, pointing to a tree that stood where the end of the garage had been. Bark was burned off the tree, as were leaves all the way to its top.

Bertalovitz called the Danbury Fire Department at 7:30 a.m. He was told a call about the fire had just come in.

"The fire department was fast on the scene," said Bertalovitz. "They did an amazing job. They really deserve recognition."

Adele Mityas got a call at her job at Boehringer Ingelheim that her house was on fire. Badly shaken, she had her boss drive her home.

"You don't want to get that call," Adele Mityas said. "That was our two-car garage. We lost everything that was in it -- a woodchipper, a stove, the freezer, a refrigerator. Everything."

The remains of a couch smoldered, charred black with some plaid of the fabric showing through. Her husband's car was severely burned. It had been parked in front of the garage doors.

Fire Capt. Dave Easter said firefighters knocked the fire down quickly after arriving. Three fire engines and one fire truck went to the scene.

"Lt. Kevin Plank and firefighter Doug Zaniewski did a textbook job, making an entry through the door on the right-hand side of the house, the opposite end from the garage," Easter said. "They made their way down the hallway and held the fire to the attached garage."

With only the 1,500 gallons of water that was carried in the three fire engines to work with, the firefighters tried to keep the fire at the end of the garage attached to the house under control and let the rest of the garage burn, Easter said.

"The garage was pretty much gone when we got there. Engine 22 was the first on the scene and the garage was fully engulfed" in flames, he said. "A very, very good stop was made."

The Mityas family lived in the house for 26 years, raising two daughters there. The fire appeared to be electrical, Bertalovitz said. The fire marshal and insurance inspector are still making an official determination.

Adele Mityas is staying with her cousin, Sally Connolly, who lives three houses up the street from the Mityas' house. Mousa Mityas is staying with his sister. Their two daughters live in West Virginia and Oklahoma.

Edited August 17, 2007 by Truck4