Residents, dogs escape house fire in Springfield

By Shawn Cunningham
© 2023 Telegraph Publishing LLC

Two residents and two dogs escaped a house fire at 39 Chester Road in Springfield this afternoon. A third resident who was working nearby only realized what was happening when police cars rushed down his driveway.

Just before 1:30 p.m., the Springfield Fire Department was called to the house for a fully involved structure fire with flames showing. Police arrived first, directing traffic and indicating the way for arriving fire trucks. While a fire engine pulled hose down the driveway to the house, a crew hooking the hose up to a hydrant found that it did not work. The firefighters moved to a working hydrant on Old Chester Road while the first engine sprayed foam onto the fire.

Homeowner Ralph Jones said that hydrant had never worked while he has lived there and that he had been told that a previous owner had it put there to reduce his insurance rates.

Jones said he didn’t know what might have caused the fire since no one had used the heat in the past few days. He added that they were lucky that the fire had not happened at night.

While Springfield personnel were fighting the Chester Road fire, a Weathersfield truck that was covering Springfield’s station was called to a fire alarm on Northfield Drive but fortunately there was no fire there.

By 2:08, scanner traffic said that both interior and exterior crews were working the blaze. The Telegraph could not determine the extent of the damage to the home at publishing time.

In addition to Springfield, firefighters from West Weathersfield and Chester were on hand and Chester Ambulance added coverage.