WTNH
Firefighters helped a woman climb down a ladder to safety late Monday night as they spent hours battling a two-alarm fire on Judson Avenue.
The call for the fire at 16 Judson came in at 8:52 p.m., according to Assistant Fire Chief Thomas Neville.
A 37-year-old woman and her mother lived in the two-and-a-half-story wood-frame circa 1920 Colonial home.
The daughter got herself out of the house on her own. The mother was standing on a second-floor porch when firefighters brought a ladder then escorted her down to safety, Neville said. Firefighters treated the mother and daughter at the scene for smoke inhalation.
At one point the staircase leading from the second to the third floors collapsed. At that point, Neville said, the firefight became “a defensive operation.”
Firefighters eventually got the blaze under control at 2:09 a.m.
The house is still standing, but badly damaged. Officials will assess Tuesday whether it needs to come down, Neville said. The cause of the fire remains under investigation.
The Red Cross found the mother and daughter another place to sleep Monday night, he said.