Dog, Bunny Saved from Danger During Wilton Fire

Six fire trucks along with about half a dozen squad cars and responding vehicles rushed over to a burning attached garage yesterday afternoon at a Cannon Road home in Wilton.

No one was reported injured, and the garage appeared to have been totally gutted from the fire which occurred around 3:30 p.m. and Georgetown Fire Departments, along with crews from Ridgefield and Westport, responded to the blaze.

Neighbor Sara Curtis said she called the fire department and said that they needed to send several trucks. 

“They were going to lose the whole house if they responded [and thought] it was like a regular garage fire,” said Curtis, explaining how the flames stretched far beyond the roof and singed a tree overhead.

Remembering the neighbor’s dog after she called for, Curtis ran to open the front door of the house with the burning garage and started yelling for the neighbor’s dog, Gracie, whom she had to chase out of the house and into the backyard.

“She wanted to go back in the house; I had to chase her in and out of the front door a couple of times,” said Curtis.

After shooing Gracie to the backyard, the dog bolted into the woods, running straight to another neighbor’s house that Gracie was familiar with.

Curtis’ job wasn’t done yet. A neighbor put Curtis on the phone with the burning property’s homeowner and was informed that a bunny remained in a cage behind the house. While the rabbit hutch was set back from the garage, Curtis raced over with a rabbit cage, afraid that the hutch’s hay could catch fire from a stray spark. The bunny, whose name she didn’t know, remained safe in its cage as the fired department beat back the fire.

“It all happened so quick. I heard two or three pops and crackles, which sounded strange, and then I saw the flames,” said Curtis.

The house also had a cat, which was outdoors; Curtis was optimistic that the feline had made itself safe.

Another neighbor, Christen Lomuscio, was dining with her son outside when she smelled burnt wood and ash.  

“I looked up and saw this high, dark gray plume of smoke,” she said.

Lumuscio said it was because of Curtis that the house was not totally immolated since Curtis stressed the severity of the fire when she called in the emergency.

“We [the neighborhood] are thankful that you said that,” said Lumuscio.

Both neighbors said that the fire department showed up fast and drowned the flames before they engulfed anything else, with Weston showing up in just “minutes.” Lumuscio said that the trucks came into view while she was running down to the house with a dog leash.

“Having that kind of manpower here was great,” said Curtis. “Three tankers were going on at once” and another three fire trucks were ready to go right near them, she said. Police closed Cannon Road while responders subdued the fire.

“I was just thinking it could travel all the way to the other block,” said Curtis, noting the draught-like conditions that Connecticut has been undergoing. “The flames went up three or four stories.”

Lumuscio suggested that the neighbors should start keeping phone numbers and should inform each other of pets and need-to-know facts about their homes in case of an emergency. Curtis agreed, but her mind wandered as to how her four-legged friend would look at her in the future.

“I’m going to need to make Gracie a steak or something,” said Curtis. “I screamed at her.”