Strong winds help fire gut two marina buildings in Connecticut

Nov. 28 (UPI) -- Strong winds whipping near Mystic, Conn., allowed a fire to gut two buildings at a marina there on Sunday night, officials said.

The wind helped the fire at the Seaport Marina to burn for hours as firefighters used water from the Mystic River itself to help douse the blaze. Emergency crews were able to evacuate a nearby hotel during efforts.

The Old Mystic Fire Department assisted the Mystic Fire District in combatting the fire as a tower ladder was used to extinguish the blaze that engulfed a marina building. The East Great Plains and Voluntown Fire Departments provided equipment and personnel as well.

Mystic Fire Chief Anthony Manfredi Jr. said no one was injured in the wind-driven fire but one firefighter was taken to the hospital to be evaluated. Officials said multiple explosions could be heard coming from the fire as crowds gathered across the Mystic River in Groton to see the fire.

By the time firefighters extinguished the blaze, it destroyed a large storage and office building and badly damaged an adjacent home. Manfredi said the state fire marshal assisted with the investigation into the cause of the fire.

"There's a parking lot to the north side of the building, which I think saved a few other buildings because the wind was blowing quite hard and it looked like that parking lot left enough room for the flames not to get any other buildings," Bruce Flax, president of the Mystic Chamber of Commerce, told CBS WFSB-TV.