By Daniel Drainville
The Day
NORWICH, Conn. — State and local officials continue to investigate last week’s fire that killed a mother and daughter, displaced four residents and severely damaged an Otis Street home.
The victims of the April 10 fire at 37-39 Otis St. are Carmen Vizcaino, 44, and her 8-year-old daughter Skylynn Owens.
The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner on Monday still has not released the cause of their deaths. Holly Cuomo, executive secretary for the office, said Monday it is still in the process of identifying the fire victims, and had no further information.
One man displaced by the fire said he was going to live temporarily with family in Middletown. The Red Cross had said it was assisting a mother and two children who had lived in the building. The city’s human services said it was helping.
Officials had said there was an estimated four-minute delay before city firefighters knew about the fire because the station did not receive the normal tone that would activate the radio system. The East Great Plain Fire Department, a volunteer department, was the first department to arrive at the scene of the fire and had responded because of an automatic mutual aid system.
Alderman Swaranjit Singh-Khalsa said Monday he has raised his concerns over the delay with City of Norwich Fire Chief Sam Wilson and City Manager John Salomone.
We need to get to the bottom of it, and we need to make sure these things don’t repeat in the future, and whatever it is we iron it out,” Singh-Khalsa said.
Alderman Mark Bettencourt, a member of the council’s Public Safety Sub-Committee, responded in a text message Monday to say “the short answer” to whether he has concerns with the four-minute delay — is yes.
Salomone has ordered an evaluation of the cause of the delay to “gather all relevant information to enhance the safety and preparedness of our community going forward.”
As of Monday, Wilson said the fire was still being investigated by the city fire marshal’s office and state police.
“We will be evaluating all circumstances surrounding the fire including the malfunction of our dispatch system,” he added. “It is ongoing, and more information will be released as it becomes available.”
Earlier, by phone, Wilson had said Police Chief Patrick Daley and the state were in the process of investigating exactly where the breakdown in the dispatch happened and looking at why the tones didn’t go off for the city department.
“I think it’s concerning anytime there’s a communication breakdown,” he said.
Daley said the report of that investigation will be given to Salomone. He said there is no timeline for its completion.
Mark Gilot, deputy fire marshal, said Monday he had no update on the investigation.
“It’s really early...” he said. “It’s going to be a little while due to the nature of the fire.
Singh-Khalsa said he had also offered help to Superintendent of Schools Susan Lessard to see if there’s anything the city could help with such as fundraising for the family or providing resources. He said he was told by Lessard a therapy dog had visited Samuel Huntington Elementary School, which Owens attended, to help students cope with her loss.
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