Somers, CT – Sprinkler system limits spread of fire at senior housing complex

Five occupants were injured early Sunday morning as a result of a fire that broke out in a woman’s apartment at the Woodcrest Senior Housing complex at 75 Battle St., a fire official said.

The fire was contained to the living room of a second-floor apartment, Fire Chief John Roache said today. The elderly woman who lived in the apartment was rescued by firefighters and bystanders and taken to Johnson Memorial Hospital in Stafford, he said.

Another elderly woman from a different apartment suffered minor back injuries during the evacuation of the building and was transported to Johnson Memorial Hospital, Roache said.

Both women have been released from the hospital, he said. Three additional occupants suffered smoke inhalation but refused to be taken to the hospital and were treated at the scene, he said.

The Fire Department responded to an automatic fire alarm at the apartment complex just after 1 a.m. Sunday, Roache said. Firefighters extinguished the fire “in seconds” and the building’s sprinkler system was instrumental in keeping the situation from escalating, he said.

“Smoke detectors and automatic sprinklers stopped this from being much worse,” Roache said.

He said a lamp cord that ran along a couch in the living room of the apartment where the fire started appears to have caused the blaze. The cord had likely sustained damage over time due to being placed in the couch’s reclining section, Roache said. This damage appears to have caused a short, he added.

The tenant of the apartment where the fire started is currently staying with family members while her residence is repaired, Roache said. He did not have the names of those who were injured.