Smoking Cited as Likely Cause of Blaze on Tunxis Hill Road [Update] [Video]

Update: 11:49 a.m.

Smoking has been cited as the likely cause of a fire early Sunday evening that gutted an apartment above Beijing Restaurant on Tunxis Hill Road in Fairfield.

The fire started on a back deck at the rear of the two-story building and extended through the back door and into the kitchen, according to the Fire Department's report. The apartment was not habitable after the fire and the American Red Cross assisted with finding Alicia Buechner's family a temporary place to live, according to the report.

Buechner and her two children left the apartment after seeing a "mass of flame" through the door that leads to the back deck, and patrons in Beijing Restaurant evacuated after hearing what was happening, the report says. The apartment wasn't occupied when firefighters arrived, according to the report. The apartment sustained heavy damage, according to firefighters on the scene Sunday evening.

The American Red Cross reported Monday that it is helping Buechner's family through financial assistance for emergency clothing and food and is providing temporary lodging to an additional adult.

The Red Cross' e-mail says it also is providing comfort kits that contain personal care items such as toothbrushes, deodorant, shaving supplies and other items a family normally does not have time to gather in the rush to escape a fire. Children's kits include coloring supplies and a stuffed toy, the e-mail says.

The American Red Cross says it offers disaster assistance free of charge due to donations and work of volunteers.

Beijing Restaurant and Adams Barber Salon, which are below the apartment, sustained very minor smoke damage and were scheduled to reopen Monday.

Original story:

Firefighters rescued two cats early Sunday evening from a smoky blaze above Beijing Restaurant on Tunxis Hill Road in Fairfield.

Assistant Fire Chief George Gomola said the fire started outside the second floor in back of the building and extended inside. He said the second floor apartment sustained fire and smoke damage, while the first floor, which includes the Chinese restaurant and Adams Barber Salon, had minor smoke damage.

"Right now the restaurant is closed, pending inspection by the [town] Health Department," Gomola said about 7 p.m. "We had some minor smoke damage on the first floor, extremely minor."

The cause of the fire is under investigation and a damage estimate wasn't immediately available, firefighters said. No one was injured, Gomola said.

Gomola said the second-floor apartment was not occupied when firefighters arrived. "It extended inside the building and that's as far as it went," he said. He said the two cats were Ok.

Gomola said the second-floor apartment wasn't habitable due to the fire and that the American Red Cross was on scene to help the occupants find a place to live.