Two-alarm fire damages New Haven home

Dec. 16--NEW HAVEN -- A two-alarm fire damaged a New Haven home late Tuesday morning, displacing five people who lived there.

Stephen Soares, who lives at the 31 Bond St. residence, said he was happy his father and three children were not home when the fire started there shortly before 9 a.m.

However, with Christmas less than two weeks away, Soares said their home contained several presents for the children, ages 3, 6 and 16.

"We'll see what we can salvage, I guess," he said.

Neighbors at the scene said they were working to set up an online fundraising page to raise money to help his family. It was not immediately clear where that page is set up.

Soares said his children were at school, his father was at an adult day center and he was at work when he got the call that his home was on fire.

Fire crews first responded to the townhome near Congress Avenue on a report of smoke coming from its windows, according to the Fire Department's Twitter page.

Margaret McCray, was talking on the phone in her unit on the opposite end of the building when she smelled something strange.

"And then I heard this loud pop," she said as she looked over the fire scene late Tuesday morning. "Everything just went out, black in the house so we just got on out. That's when I started smelling smoke and thought, 'Oh God, something's on fire.'"

Crews arrived to find a fire in the basement and struck a second alarm shortly after 9 a.m., bringing more trucks to the scene.

The flames were knocked down around 9:15 a.m. but crews remained on scene for nearly two hours cleaning up and beginning to look for the cause of the fire. Part of Congress Avenue was shut down in the area because of all the fire trucks and emergency vehicles parked there.

The mother of Soares' children, Leyanda DaSilva, said she was on her way to work when she got multiple phone calls about the fire. She hurried to the scene to make sure everyone was okay.

She said much of the damage to the home was in the basement.

"Everything that's gone is replaceable, materialistic," said DaSilva, who lives elsewhere in New Haven. "But my kids are okay, their dad and his dad [are okay], so I thank God for that."

Soares said he saw a renter's insurance commercial on television recently but didn't sign up.

"You don't expect stuff like this to happen," he said. "It's hard but it is what it is."

The Red Cross responded to the Bond Street scene and met with Soares.

Fire investigators were at the scene late Tuesday morning probing the cause.

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