“Winthrop Terrace”: Still boarded up, as of Monday. A fire that wrecked a 45-unit Mandy Management building on Chapel Street began in the living room of a third-floor apartment occupied by a tenant who would throw out used cigarettes in the trash, and who recalled going downstairs to pick up her mail and talk with a friend soon before the blaze broke out. The city’s lead investigator, however, could not find a definitive “ignition source” for the fire, thereby leaving its official cause as “undetermined.” Those details are included in a 17-page fire investigation report concerning the fire that took place on Tuesday, Feb. 24, at 11:22 a.m. at the five-story apartment building at 1523 Chapel St. The Independent obtained a copy of the newly completed report on Friday via a Connecticut Freedom of Information Act request. The report was authored by city fire investigator Tomas Reyes, Jr. Click here to read the report in full. The fire displaced a total of 79 people from the “Winthrop Terrace” apartment building, and saw firefighters rescue some tenants who were hanging out of upper-floor windows. Remarkably, no one was injured during the blaze. The city’s Building Department subsequently condemned the structure because of the damage it sustained during the fire — leaving some tenants to live out of Long Wharf hotel rooms, as paid for by the landlord, while they scrambled to find a new home. Reyes’ report includes quotes from firefighters who responded to the scene, as initially documented in the department’s incident report. It also includes as-yet-unpublished interviews with some of the displaced tenants who lived on the floor where the fire began. One third-floor tenant is quoted in the report as saying, “I heard the alarm and screaming, when I opened my door, there was a lot of smoke and some fire coming from their corner of the hall, so I grabbed my wife and we ran out.” Another third-floor tenant is quoted as saying, “I was leaving to go down to the laundry room and when I opened the door I saw smoke coming out near the top of the door to 301A. I turned back to let my boyfriend know and I grabbed my cats, then we ran out. By that time the smoke was thick and black. When I got outside, I looked up and could see lots of smoke and fire out the window to the apartment that was on fire.” Reyes also spoke with the 55-year-old woman who lives in Unit 301A, where the fire appears to have begun. She is quoted as saying that, on the morning of the fire, she had gone downstairs to get the mail and to talk with her friend Larry. “I think I was down there for about 10 minutes when Larry looked up and saw smoke and asked me if that was my apartment,” she is quoted as saying. “My windows were open. I could hear what sounded like smoke alarms. So, I went up to check. When I got upstairs [I] saw smoke in the hall. I tried to close the door but when I got close, I could see fire in the middle of the living room and it was too hot so Larry helped me and we left.” When asked if her door was left open, the tenant said she could not remember. Asked about the layout of her apartment, the Unit 301A tenant told Reyes that she was “in the process of moving so I had things all over the place. Moving bins, bags of clothes, all my things were all over, it was a mess.” Asked if she “had a habit of consuming smoking materials,” that same tenant replied, “Yes I smoke but I didn’t have any cigarettes, so I didn’t smoke today.” Asked how she typically discards her cigarettes, she replied, “I toss the butts in the trash after they are out.” She said her trash was located in the living room by the front door — the same area Reyes would later determine to be the fire’s area of origin. She also said that she lights candles and incense “from time to time,” and that she “usually smoked in a chair by the window.” The report goes on to state that Unit 301A was determined to be the “unit of origin” of the fire because that apartment “sustained the most significant fire, heat, and smoke damage of all areas examined.” Reyes determined that the living room was the “room of origin” for the fire, based on the damage he observed. He also found on the apartment’s kitchen counter, near the sink, a “tin can, similar in appearance to a tuna fish can, that contained discarded filtered cigarette ends.” “Conditions For A Very Intense Fire” The fire-damaged, city-condemned apartment building, pictured on Monday. While sifting through the “collected fire debris” of Unit 301A’s living room as part of an investigative process called “layering,” Reyes found furniture, plastic bins, and clothing, as well as “battery packs, battery cells, multiple cellular phones and chargers, a digital camera, and other unidentifiable electric items” and other tools. “No items were identified having sustained the type of damage that would indicate them as the cause of fire.” The severe damage that Reyes found to both sides of the living room’s door, meanwhile, indicates “that the door was open during the fire,” as mentioned by the tenant during her statement. Reyes wrote that the tenant’s statement “about leaving the door open when she went down to get the mail would create the conditions for a very intense fire. Having left the entry door and windows open would provide continuous flow of oxygen and air flow to feed the fire thus contributing to the fire’s growth and intensity.” The tenant’s belongings, meanwhile, “being stored in the living room, would act as a heavy fuel load for the fire to consume and grow.” In trying to determine the cause of the fire, Reyes ruled out the apartment’s electrical system. A state police dog did not find any indication of the presence an “accelerant” in the apartment, either. “After finding the cigarette ends in the can in the kitchen, this investigator considered the possibility of cigarette ends in the trash as the ignition source,” Reyes wrote, particularly given that the tenant had said that she discards cigarettes when they are out in the trash and that the trash had been located in the living room. “Finding no evidence of the competent ignition source in the area of origin that could have ignited this fire,” Reyes concluded, “and being unable to rule out improperly discarded smoking materials in the trash receptacle possibly left, ‘…in the living room by the front door…’ this investigator has ruled [] the nature of this fire incident [as] UNDETERMINED.” In an email statement sent to the Independent on Monday, Mandy Management CEO Yudi Gurevitch acknowledged the findings of the city’s fire investigation report. “We accept these findings and appreciate the thorough work conducted by city fire officials, as well as their rapid response in containing the fire and helping to safeguard residents.” He said that, in the immediate aftermath of the fire, Mandy Management “mobilized to support displaced residents, including coordinating temporary accommodations and assisting with longer-term housing solutions. Temporary hotel accommodations were provided for approximately two weeks following the fire to ensure all residents had immediate housing in place.” He said that, out of 43 units’ worth of tenants who were displaced by this fire, “residents from 26 units have since been transferred into other Mandy Management properties. The remaining residents elected to secure housing independently and were provided with full security deposit refunds to support their transition. As of today, all residents have been relocated, and we are no longer utilizing hotel accommodations.” Gurevitch continued by stating, “We recognize the massive disruption this has caused and remain committed to supporting residents through this transition. From the outset, our priority has been their safety and well-being. We have cooperated fully with the investigation and continue to work closely with local authorities as we evaluate next steps for the property.” What comes next for the building at 1523 Chapel St.? “We are currently assessing the scope of work required to restore the building and determine a path toward making the property habitable again, in coordination with city inspectors and safety officials.” This article has been updated to include comments from Mandy Management CEO Yudi Gurevitch. The post Fire That Displaced 79 Began In Tenant’s Living Room appeared first on New Haven Independent. ...read more read less