Fire Severely Damages Wallingford House; Meriden Firefighters Assist

Two families have been displaced following a fire that ripped through a Dutton Street home in Wallingford Tuesday afternoon.

It took 26 firefighters from both Wallingford and Meriden around an hour and a half to completely extinguish the fire at two-family home at 18 Dutton St., which left the building with significant damage on the second and third floors, said Deputy Fire Chief Steve Alsup.

"It was a stubborn fire and a deep-seeded one," Alsup said. 

"But, he added, "The good news is that everybody got out."

It's unclear exactly how many people lived in the house, although Alsup said the residents of the top two floors got out of the house and were not injured. He also said officials have considerable reason to believe the people on the first floor weren't home either.

A neighbor told Wallingford Patch that a dog and a rabbit were also inside although we have yet to confirm those details. Another fire official told The Record-Journal the dog is presumed dead.

Alsup said fire department first got the 911 call around 2 p.m. with multiple reports of smoke billowing from the house.

A cause has yet to be determined. The incident is now being investigated by the Wallingford Fire Marshal's Office.

Alsup said the fire department also called in mutual aid from Durham and other area departments to cover the Wallingford station. The American Red Cross was also on the scene of the fire.

This was the second major incident to hit the area in just a few hours, the other being a plane that flipped over at the Meriden airport.