NEW LONDON, Conn. — The historic Lighthouse Inn in New London was damaged by a 3-alarm fire Thursday afternoon. Two firefighters were injured while battling the blaze. As of Thursday night, New London Fire Department said one had been released, but another was still in the hospital.
At around 2:35 p.m., 16 members of the fire department and other city apparat
crews were dispatched.
"The first arriving engine transmitted an urgent message by saying there was a fire on the second floor," Fire Department Chief Thomas Curcio said.
The Light House Inn is a historical mansion that was built in 1902. In the winter of 2022, it opened with a tavern and full-service bar.
This is the second time the building has caught fire in a similar way, the first time being in the 1970s.
"This time, with the manpower that we had here and a very aggressive interior attack, we had to call numerous fire departments in the area and still more coverage for manpower," Curcio said.
Because the fire was burning inside the floor and walls, firefighters had to open it with saws or hand tools.
"The walls are made of wood lath with chicken wire and it makes it very difficult to open those things up," Curcio said.
Locals were looking forward to seeing new life brought to the inn after it had been closed for so many years and are now devastated to see it damaged by fire.
“It just makes you so sad because they just opened,” said Patti Petrone, who lives near the Inn. “Everybody was saying how nice it looked and what a beautiful job he did and then to find out this happened.”
She and her husband William said the Inn held an Easter brunch for the neighborhood as it was preparing to open full-time after years of restoration.
“The Lighthouse Inn, it was the place to go for years upon years,” William said.
It holds a special place in the Petrone family’s hearts who have lived there for more than 15 years.
Their oldest daughter Amy got married there in 2003.
“It was just such a beautiful place,” Patti said. “We had the whole inn and the guest house was all people for the wedding.”
The bar opened last week and Mayor Michael Passero said they were fully booked for the mothers day weekend.
The cause of the fire is still under investigation.
Jareliz Diaz is a digital content producer at FOX61 News. She can be reached at jdiaz@fox61.com
Elisha Machado is a reporter at FOX61 News. She can be reached at emachado@fox61.com. Follow her on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
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