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The apartment is on the second floor of a two-family home on West Avenue. Shortly after midnight the woman was packing in preparation for a move when she knocked over a candle, according Darien Fire Marshal Robert Buch. The candle fell into a box filled with bubble wrap and started to burn, creating heavy smoke.
Police officers quickly arrived and went into the building, where they found the woman. They were able to get her out safely. A family living in the first-floor apartment was also able to get out. The first firefighters on the scene from the Noroton Heights Fire Department were able to get a hose line in and control the fire quickly.
Buch said there was not a lot of fire damage, mostly damage from heat and smoke. The first-floor apartment suffered some water damage, and the family will likely be displaced for a few days until the apartment is checked out and deemed safe, Buch said.
Buch said that there was a smoke detector in the apartment, but it had been removed from where it was installed.
"I cannot stress enough the importance of having operating smoke detectors in a residential home," Buch said. "If this had happened at any different time, if she had been in bed, this could have had a totally different outcome."
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