Chimney Fire and Gas Leak Reported

The Southington Fire Department was dispatched at 12:20pm Sunday to a call for a chimney fire at 822 Laning St. The homeowners called it in. The fire was confined to the chimney.

Capt. Alan Zygmunt said the protocol for such events is to drop a chain down the chimney to get the debris to fall into the fire box below and burn out, which is what happened. There the debris burns normally.

There was some smoke in the house that was cleared, he said.

Earlier in the day, 11:30am, the department responded to the report of a gas leak at 825 Queen St. The report of the smell of gas came from someone at T.J. Maxx.

"When we arrived we couldn’t find any problem in the store, but we were getting sporadic smells of gas in the back of the building," said Zygmunt.

A crew was sent to the roof where the furnace is located. On the roof the crew located one unit that was emitting a strong smell of gas. It was discovered that there was a break in a pipe fueling that furnace. Yankee Gas was called, the gas was turned off and the company arrived to make repairs.

"It was covered with snow," said Zygmunt. "Once it was opened up it was pretty obvious. It could have been a pretty serious leak."

It is not known at this time how many stores in the plaza are affected by the situation.

Several other calls Sunday ranged from checking the structural integrity of a home after the homeowner called in the department concerned about noises coming from the attic. 

"It was OK. There is some damage to it from the snow," said Zygmunt. "It wasn't in danger of collapse."

The town building department was notified and will come out to have a look, he said.

Another homeowner called in after a deck partially collapsed. The department was asked to make sure the gas grill was not leaking. It wasn't.