Rutland Herald
By Dan Colton
Staff Writer | March 09,2015
Staff Writer | March 09,2015
Anthony Edwards / Staff Photo
Caution tape surrounds the remains of the condominium complex that was
destroyed by a structure fire during the early morning hours of Saturday
on Innsbruck Lane in Killington.
Haigh, a Connecticut resident, said she didn’t waste any time getting out of her ground-floor condo when she heard the fire alarms sound off around 11:30 p.m.
Steve Finer, former Killington fire chief, said the Killington Townhouses didn’t have a sprinkler system to fight any potential fires.
He said the building “predates requirements.”
Haigh, who has visited the condos for 10 years, said she doesn’t remember ever seeing fire sprinklers.
After the fire alarm sounded, she and her husband loaded up their suitcases into their vehicle and “got out of Dodge,” Haigh said, before any flames were visible.
But Haigh said that when she got outside, a lot of smoke was visible near the upper units.
“I could see smoke was up in the eaves, way up in the roof,” she said. “It was just coming out.”
She said it was easy to get all her belongings out in time because she and her husband had just arrived an hour earlier.
Many of the others weren’t as lucky, she said.
“There were some people who lost everything,” Haigh said — things like clothes, wallets and skiing equipment.
She explained that the Killington Townhouses aren’t permanent residences; they are vacation condos, or time shares, sold on a weekly basis. As a result, nobody was permanently left without a home because of the fire.
As Haigh and her husband drove out of the parking lot, they saw smoke rising from the Killington Townhouses and people standing in their pajamas out in the March night.
She headed for the Best Western, and said she believes others displaced from the fire found their way to the Best Western as well.
Patty Flanagan, manager of the Killington Townhouses, said she was distraught Sunday as she surveyed the damage left behind. She had no comment when asked how many people were in the condos when the fire began or where they were sheltered afterwards.
Only a few hours after the fire was doused, Killington Townhouses President Paul Kaufman said he didn’t know if the condos would be rebuilt.
Gary Roth, Killington fire chief, said he didn’t believe there was any indication of “foul play.”
Roth said what started as a chimney fire became a structure fire.
But Haigh didn’t wait around to see the flames spread to rest of the building.
She said that about an hour after arriving for the weekend on Friday night, she and her husband heard the fire alarm and could smell smoke.
While she was still inside the condo, Haigh said, she saw smoke billowing down the hallway from the living room.
Haigh estimated about a dozen people had rooms at the townhouses that night. Everyone escaped without injury, according to the fire department and eyewitnesses.
The conflagration lasted six hours, responders said, and left debris smoldering even into Sunday. At one point, the smoldering debris rekindled and firefighters returned briefly to douse the ruins again.
On Sunday afternoon, smoke still could be seen rising from the destruction. A chain link fence was brought in to replace the yellow caution tape from the day before.
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