From Steve Krauchick, Doing It Local:
Dozens were evacuated from the Fairbridge Apartments at 50 Freemont Street when fire broke out on the 3rd floor. A number of residents made it to safety including several who are wheelchair bound. A child and elderly woman were treated by EMS. A cat appropriately named Hercules jumped three stories to safety. One person was transported to the hospital. Everyone else including the cat were fine. The fire marshal was on scene investigating.
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THANK GOD for no injuries or fatalities. I was once caught in a house fire myself and it is unimaginable. I WOULD LIKE TO SAY A SPECIAL THANK YOU TO ALL THE FIREFIGHTERS WHO POST ON OIB. I also drive by the West Side Firehouse almost every day and see the plaque for two firefighters who lost their lives in the line of duty.
This is somewhat of a tangential issue. One of my own “special” concerns is the state of the housing infrastructure in Bridgeport. As I see it, many of the multi-family houses in Bridgeport are not being maintained and that includes all aspects but especially plumbing and electrical. First you see the absentee landlords with no care or re-investment in the property. But then you begin to see abandonment of property. I believe we are moving in the direction of, pure and simple, abandonment.
Frank, good point. Fire companies in Bridgeport do daily mobile inspection to multi-story homes to see if there are smoke detectors in the building and that they are working. Buildings like the ones in this article are inspected by the Fire Marshall Division but the nearest fire company does go over how they will respond if something happens and they visit the buildings to become familiar with them from the inside and the outside and they update their pre-fire plan on all these types of structures in their district.