Firefighters extinguish fire at New London apartment building
Jan. 28—NEW LONDON — Firefighters extinguished a fire that broke out Saturday evening in a first-floor apartment at The Mohican apartment building at 281 State St.
New London Battalion Chief Jeffrey Rheaume said a resident of the first-floor apartment, who was home at the time, was not injured and the American Red Cross is relocating her.
Rheaume said the fire department had received a call Saturday evening reporting smoke on the first floor of the building. When firefighters arrived at the apartment building, residents at the door were reporting smoke in the hallway, and firefighters could see the smoke.
The building's sprinkler system contained the fire, and then firefighters located the fire in a first-floor apartment and completely extinguished it, he said.
He said the only people that really evacuated were the first-floor tenants.
"We did have a light smoke condition on the second floor but because the fire was contained we protected those people in place," he said. He said there was no danger to the upper floors.
Rheaume said a lot of people in the high-rise building rely on the elevator so firefighters wanted to make sure the fire was contained first before they started to move people because it is a labor-intensive activity and can be dangerous if there is smoke in the hallway.
Resident Edward Gathers said he was watching television in his tenth-floor apartment when he heard the building's alarm system go off. He said he didn't wait for the elevator and walked down ten flights of stairs. When he got to the lobby, he smelled smoke, but didn't see where it was coming from. Outside, he saw firetrucks and firefighters.
Gathers said he hoped everyone is safe, because he said there are a lot of elderly people who live in the building and have wheelchairs. He was happy to hear later that no one was injured.
A small group of residents of The Mohican and people on State Street watched as firefighters worked on scene.
New London and Waterford fire departments, the Naval Submarine Base Fire Department, L+M Paramedics and Groton Ambulance responded, Rheaume said.
Rheaume said the cause of the fire is under investigation.
