Fire Marshal: Windsor Avenue Fire Caused By 'Smoking Material' on Mattress - Update

Update - 12:19 p.m.

The Meriden Fire Marshal's Office has ruled that the Tuesday morning fire that gutted part of a multi-unit Windsor Avenue home was caused by cigarettes or other smoking material left on a mattress.

Fire Marshal Steve Trella said Tuesday afternoon that he was ruling the fire at 43 Windsor Ave. accidental. He said evidence showed the blaze was caused by discarded cigarettes or other smoking material that came into direct contact with the mattress in one of the first floor apartments in the four-unit house.

Whether it was because the tenant, a man who was taken to Midstate Medical Center for smoke inhalation, fell asleep smoking, did not fully extinguish a cigarette butt, or another reason, Trella said he does not know.

The mattress, Trella said, had been entirely burned, and the bedroom of the apartment "gutted."

The entire home, a detailed late 19-Century Victorian house, is structurally sound, but will need major repair, Trella said.

"The damage isn't to the point where it has to be knocked down," Trella said, but it will likely take a while to fix before it can be liveable.

Late morning Tuesday, scorch marks were visible on the outside of the house leading up from a first floor window on the south side of the home. Windows from the first floor had been knocked out and lay along with other burned-looking items in a pile on the south side of the home. From the street, the interior of part of the first floor appeared blackened inside.

Original Story - 9:16 a.m.

The Meriden Fire Marshal's office is investigating a morning fire at a four-unit Windsor Street home that sent one man to the hospital Tuesday.

Firefighters received a call at about 6:41 a.m. Tuesday for a bedroom fire at 43 Windsor Ave.

When they arrived, flames were coming out of the bedroom window of a first floor unit, Deputy Chief David Bowen said.

Firefighters quickly knocked out the blaze, which stayed in the first floor apartment it started in, Bowen said.

"The fire did a lot of damage to the whole apartment, but it was contained to that one apartment," Bowen said.

The fire did cause heat and smoke damage throughout the building.

"For right now, people aren't able to stay there," Bowen said.

A man in his 50's who lived in the first floor apartment where the fire started was taken to MidState Medical Center by ambulance for smoke inhalation, and Bowen said his condition did not seem serious.

One apartment was vacant, and the two other residents of the building, a young woman who lived on the first floor and called the fire in, and a man on the second floor, did not need medical attention. The man is being assisted by Red Cross in finding temporary lodging, and the woman will be staying with friends.

No firefighters were injured, Bowen said.

The house, according to city records, was built in 1895, and is owned by Silver City Properties, LLC.

Correction: In our update of this article, we initially referred to Windsor Avenue as "Windsor Street." This error has been corrected.