Dogs die in Senior Place house fire

A smoky fire heavily damaged a Senior Place house Friday morning and killed the two family dogs.

The owners of the white two-story house at 46 Senior Place were not home at the time of the blaze, reported about 8:45 a.m. when neighbors smelled smoke.

The property is owned by Eric and Anna Pelletier, according to town tax records. A "For Sale" sign was posted in front of the house.

Ellen Short, one of the neighbors who called 9-1-1, said she was inside blow drying her hair when she began to smell something odd. "I thought it didn't smell normal," she said.

A walk to her back porch confirmed her suspicion -- thick brown smoke was billowing from her neighbor's windows. She immediately called 9-1-1.

Firefighters arrived on the scene to find flames coming through the first-story windows, and thick brown smoke billowing out of the windows on the first and second stories, as well as the attic. They were forced to knock out most of the windows of the dwelling and break a hole through the roof to vent the structure and extinguish the blaze.

The fire appeared to do the most serious damage in the kitchen area, according to Assistant Fire Chief Scott Bisson. "It appears the fire started in the first floor," he said.

The cause of the fire, however, remains under investigation. Damage was estimated at approximately $100,000.

As firefighters began to clean the scene -- putting away equipment and wrapping up hoses -- the homeowner arrived. His first question was about his pets' welfare. Bisson informed him that the dogs -- Airedale terriers -- had perished despite firefighters' attempts to resuscitate them. Neighbors across the street looked on, some cried.

In battling the blaze, Fairfield firefighters worked with their counterparts from Greenwich, Norwalk and Wilton, which provided mutual aid for the town Friday since many Fairfield firefighters were in Bridgeport to cover that city's fire stations. They provided mutual aid for Bridgeport so that most of the city's firefighters were able to attend the funeral services for two fellow Bridgeport firefighters killed during a house fire there last Saturday.

"It's pretty amazing that you can put four different departments together and they work so well together," Bisson said.