Electrical Fire Damages

Shady Rest House

By Andrew Gorosko

About 35 firefighters responded to a house fire in the Shady Rest section of Sandy Hook, which caused an estimated $25,000 in property damage on the evening of Friday, February 6.

Sandy Hook Volunteer Fire and Rescue Company Chief Bill Halstead said that an electrical panel positioned on the house’s exterior failed, causing electrical arcing, which resulted in the single-family building’s vinyl-sided exterior catching fire. The electrical panel is located near the building’s electric meter.

There were no injuries, the fire chief said.

The house’s address, which is alternately listed as 27 or 133 Housatonic Drive, was undergoing renovations and was unoccupied at the time of the blaze, Chief Halstead said. The one-story rental building is owned by Carol and David French of Boggs Hill Road, the fire chief said.

At 5:35 pm, a neighbor noticed that the house’s exterior had caught fire and reported the problem to firefighters. Sandy Hook, Newtown Hook and Ladder, and Southbury firefighters went to the scene. Eight fire trucks were dispatched. Shady Rest is a compact, densely built community located off Walnut Tree Hill Road, on the western shoreline of Lake Zoar.

Firefighters arrived at the scene quickly and extinguished the fire in about five minutes, the fire chief said. Some siding needed to be removed from the building to check for the extent of the fire.

No nearby houses were in danger of catching fire from the blaze, Chief Halstead said, adding that firefighters used approximately 50 gallons of water to douse the flames. Firefighters spent about two hours at the scene.