Firefighters Battle Blaze at the Neubig Dairy Property

Quick work by stopped a shed fire Friday night from consuming a vacant house at the old Neubig Dairy property, 110 Barberry Road.

Fire Chief Douglas Jackson said the preliminary damage estimate is still a $100,000 loss from the fire, which was reported at 10:21 p.m. and occupied six East Haven Fire Department units and several North Branford Fire Department pumpers that responded for mutual aid assistance.

Jackson said the first unit to arrive was the Squad 5 minipumper, which immediately got into position and directed water on the blaze. Although the vehicle is too small to handle the fire by itself, Jackson said Squad 5 was able to stop the spread of the fire until other units got into position, which probably saved the house.

The North Branford units were needed because there are now hydrants in that far northern part of town to draw water from.

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The property is a former dairy farm that is currently vacant. Jackson said there were no injuries reported.

Further complicating things, the East Haven Fire Department was also participating at the same time in Long Island Sound that was reported about 15 minutes before the farm fire.

Jackson said in terms of East Haven geography, the two incidents could not have taken place at a further distance from each other.

He said the fire started in an outbuilding described as a shed, which was fully involved and collapsed as firefighters began to arrive on the scene.

The shed was close to the house on the property, and the fire had begun to burn the residence. But firefighters were able to stop the blaze at that point and the damage to the house was mostly to its exterior, Jackson said.

The cause of the fire is still undetermined. Fire Department units spent the entire night at the scene and the investigation by the local fire marshal is receiving assistance from the state fire marshal’s office.