Fire at Main and Elm considered suspicious

WINSTED — Several fire departments responded to a suspicious early morning fire that started on the roof of the 5 Elm St. building on Wednesday, Dec. 8. According to Winsted Fire Department sources, the fire began around 7 a.m. in an apartment near the top of the old Winchester Hotel building, where The Winsted Journal occupies the ground-floor corner storefront.

Police and firefighters on the scene were investigating the fire as suspicious Wednesday morning, and an accelerant-sniffing Labrador retriever was brought in by the state fire marshal’s office to aid in the investigation.

Smoke slowly worked its way down through the building Wednesday morning, requiring an evacuation of the building, while a line of firetrucks on the north side of Main Street disrupted traffic for several hours. The smell of smoke lingered through the ground floor of the building into the afternoon Wednesday.

Frank Rockefeller, who works across the street from the building at the New Image Hair Salon, said “tons� of black smoke came from the top of the building as tenants ran out. A long stretch of Main Street and part of Elm Street was closed down as fire departments from Winsted, Torrington, Norfolk, Pleasant Valley, New Hartford and Riverton were on hand to put out the fire and provide mutual aid.

The departments put the fire out within an hour. No one was hurt and representatives said there was some smoke damage to several apartments. At press time, police and firefighters were still investigating the cause of the fire.

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