A two-alarm fire left 11 adults and six children temporarily homeless and sent two firefighters to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
The fire began at a three-family home at 25 – 7 Sheffield Avenue at 12:13 p.m.
Firefighters arrived to find the building fully engulfed in flames and smoke, according to Fire Chief John Alston Jr.
Crews went inside — until the roof began collapsing. “Just before the roof collapsed, all firefighters were evacuated from the building,” Alston said.
At 1:30 p.m., firefighters were still seeking to get the blaze under control, from outside. The fire spread to the second floor of a house next door. (The fire was reported under control an hour later.)
The displaced occupants were from both houses.
One firefighter was transported to Yale New Haven Hospital with a back injury, a second due to heat exhaustion, according to Alston.
The house directly across the street burned to the ground last year.