| By TERRY CORCORAN
tcorcora@thejournalnews.com
THE JOURNAL NEWS
(Original Publication: May 27, 2005)
An early morning fire yesterday destroyed a historic building on the picture-postcard Main Street of this 300-year-old town just over the Westchester County border.
Several volunteer fire departments from Westchester and other neighboring communities assisted Ridgefield's career and volunteer firefighters in battling the 2 a.m. blaze that eventually tore through the Bissell Building, built in 1887. The building, at 378 Main St., housed a pharmacy, a popular restaurant Gail's Station House, which has been featured in Gourmet and Bon Appetit magazines and several apartments upstairs.
No one was injured in the fire, although several tenants of the apartments were displaced and two pet cats died, according to the town's top elected official, First Selectman Rudy Marconi. The cause was under investigation.
Volunteer firefighters from Bedford Hills, Vista, Croton Falls, Goldens Bridge, Pound Ridge and South Salem in Westchester, plus the Brewster Fire Department in Putnam County, provided mutual aid along with several Connecticut departments.
"Unquestionably, the assistance we got from neighboring departments was invaluable," Marconi said. "It allowed us to set up aerial ladders at each corner of the building to help suppress the fire."
The fire started in the basement of the 118-year-old building. Firefighters arrived at 2:05 a.m. and immediately sounded a general alarm. The first firefighters on the scene evacuated the apartments not all were occupied before attacking the fire.
The building lacked fire "stops" in the walls and the flames quickly shot up to the attic and through the roof. It was engulfed in flames by 4 a.m, Marconi said.
Ridgefield, a town of about 22,000 that was founded in 1708, is famed for its handsome Main Street, lined by specialty shops, antiques stores, restaurants and bistros. The road was shut down yesterday near the fire scene as firefighters continued to douse hot spots in the smoldering ruins.
"You never really recover from something like this," Marconi said. "We've lost a piece of architecture in town that was part of what makes Ridgefield what it is and gives it the character that so many people love when they come to our community. But we're very fortunate that the owners have pledged to rebuild the building exactly as it was." |
