Whole-House Attic Fan Causes Fairfield House Fire

Neighbors in Fairfield’s Pine Creek area Monday night helped alert homeowners and direct emergency responders to an attic fire before the blaze could do extensive damage to a two-story wood-frame house or harm its occupants, officials said.

The fire apparently started with a whole-house attic fan, according to a press release issued by Assistant Chief Chris Tracy.

Assistant Chief Scott Bisson, who served as incident commander at the scene, said in the release that homeowners should “use caution when using appliances that have not been used for a period of time, or if they are uncertain that the appliance is in good working order.”

Typically installed in an attic between a ceiling and living space, whole-house fans are designed to cool homes by pulling in hot air and pushing it out through vents.

In this case, the system appears to have malfunctioned.

At 6:25 p.m., dispatchers at received a 911 call that a home at 87 Old Dam Road had “fire showing from the roof” and another call that neighbors had “been able to knock on the door and remove the family from the residence,” according to Tracy’s press release.

Firefighters arrived to find smoke emanating from a north gable of the home, Tracy said. They entered the house and accessed the attic through its hatch. There, the firefighters saw that the fire was contained to the fan and surrounding insulation. They extinguished it with water from a 1.75-inch hose line, the press release said.

“Fortunately we were able to quickly extinguish this fire before it became unmanageable due to a vigilant neighbor who alerted the family to evacuate before anyone was hurt and called for the fire department,” Bisson said in the release.

Response to the call was extensive and included Fairfield Fire Engines 1, 2, 4 and 5, Ladders 1 and 2, and Cars 1, 3 and 5, as well as Fairfield police, town building officials and American Medical Response, according to the press release.

and Bridgeport Fire Departments sent units to Fairfield for mutual aid coverage, the release said.

“After speaking with the occupants Bisson observed that the Old Dam Road residence remained habitable with relatively minor smoke and water damage,” the press release said.

Firefighters cleared the scene completely at 7:26 p.m.