Smoking Cited as Cause of May Street Fire

The fire at 138 May St. in Fairfield Saturday night that about $65,000 damage to a ranch-style home was caused by carelessness with smoking materials in the basement, where the fire originated, Fairfield Fire Marshal William Kessler said Thursday.

Kessler said the cause of a much larger fire on Warner Hill Road early Sunday had not been determined. That fire is believed to have started in the basement also, and it a house assessed at $1.1 million.

Kessler said firefighters are waiting to gain access to the basement to determine the cause and that heavy equipment would have to be brought in to dig through rubble so firefighters can get to the area they want to investigate. He said free-standing chimneys on the 323 Warner Hill Road property also have to come down and that likely would take place next week.

No one was injured in either blaze.