Twenty people have been displaced after a two-alarm fire tore through a building on Spring Street in New Haven that houses a restaurant and a corner store on the bottom and apartments on the top floor.
Firefighters responded to 95 Spring Street early Thursday morning and were able to stop the blaze before it spread to an adjoining hallway shared with the building next door on Howard Avenue, officials said. Had the fire spread, it would have been much worse, according to the fire chief at the scene.
Fire crews had some difficulty opening a hydrant, but the chief said it didn’t slow them down from fighting the fire.
The blaze appears to have started in the basement of 95 Spring Street and spread up through the walls, according to the chief.
All residents were able to escape without injuries and a CT Transit bus responded to shelter people, while others went to a police substation nearby.
The building sustained smoke and water damage, so the displaced residents won’t be able to get back into their apartments anytime soon, the chief said.
The corner of Spring Street and Howard Avenue is closed and the cause of the fire is under investigation.
