Crime & Safety

Fire Decimates Granby Home

Canton, Barkhamsted and East Hartland aided in putting out fire in Case Street home.

A Granby family and their cat are safe after a fire tore through their home on Case Street Monday afternoon.

The fire, which began around 3 p.m., took several hours to put out and required the help of several neighboring fire departments.

In addition to Lost Acres, Canton Fire Department responded and Barkhamsted and East Hartland also provided aid through both manpower and tanker shuttles, according to Lost Acres Fire Chief John Horr.

Find out what's happening in Granby-East Granbywith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Tankers were required because there is no fire hydrant near the home. In fact, there are very few places in Granby that have access to hydrants, Horr said.

“We moved about 20,000 gallons of water. It was a very aggressive fire and it had a good head start on us,” Horr said.

Find out what's happening in Granby-East Granbywith free, real-time updates from Patch.

According to Horr, the homeowner was at home in the basement and heard a crackling sound. When he went upstairs, he saw smoke from one of the walls, Horr said.

Much of the fire was in the attic and firefighters vented the roof to release the smoke, Horr said. When that happens the structure can become unstable, forcing the home to be condemned.

“There was fire and smoke and now water damage. It may be total loss. But everyone was okay,” Horr said, noting that a couple, a young child and a grandmother lived in the home.

The Granby fire marshal is investigating the cause of the fire but a wood stove was being used to heat the house and may have played a role in the fire, Horr said.

“The guys and gals from the fire department did a great job… We had a lot of good work from the surrounding towns and we got the fire out,” he said. “It’s sad that we had to deal with it but we stopped anyone from getting hurt.”

The family lost most of its possessions and is staying with family.


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

To request removal of your name from an arrest report, submit these required items to arrestreports@patch.com.