Nearly 50 Missing After Conn. Blaze

Early morning fire reduces apartments to rubble
By Harry Kimball,  Newser Staff
Posted Apr 26, 2008 6:28 PM CDT
Nearly 50 Missing After Conn. Blaze
Firefighters cool down the fire.   (AP Photo)

Flames engulfed an apartment complex in Norwich, Conn., today and left more than 100 residents homeless, the Norwich Bulletin reports. The fire had already consumed two buildings when firefighters showed up at 1:30am, and they scrambled to get 105 of 150 tenants out in time. The rest are accounted for; the rubble remains too hot for corpse-sniffing dogs.

Officials haven't identified a cause, but say flames spread quickly through a roof system devoid of fire stops. A lack of sprinkler systems didn't help either. For now, tenants have gone to stay at a nearby school. "When you looked inside the courtyard it was what you pictured hell to look like," one said. (More Norwich, Connecticut stories.)

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