More than 50 residents were forced out of Ledges Apartments in Groton early Sunday after a third-alarm fire tore through the building, injured two firefighters and left 43 units impacted.
Firefighters were called to the Ledgewood Drive complex around 3 a.m. after a report of flames showing from the building. By 3:07 a.m., a third alarm had been declared. Within minutes, the fire was pushing through multiple floors, and by 3:22 a.m. heavy fire was in the attic. It took more than five hours and crews from over a dozen departments to get it under control.
Avery, who was visiting friends at the complex to celebrate a job promotion, said he woke to people yelling to get out. He said smoke made it hard to see, and when he got outside he saw a wall of fire in another apartment building. No residents were hurt, but two firefighters were treated for minor injuries related to firefighting operations.
The building had interior sprinklers, but fire officials said the blaze still spread through the exterior wall and into the attic, where it ran through the space above the apartments. The structure suffered significant fire damage, and the Red Cross said residents were displaced because of water damage as well as the fire itself. Impacted residents gathered at the complex clubhouse while crews worked at the scene.
Avery said the worst part was knowing how quickly a night that began with a celebration turned into an evacuation. The cause of the fire remains under investigation, and officials still are not sure what floor it started on. For the families who lost access to their homes before sunrise, the question now is less about the fire’s size than how long it will take before they can move back in.
