UPDATED: Fire Destroys Hamden Home

The peace of a Monday afternoon was shattered for a Sherman Avenue family when their home caught fire.

The flames started in what looked like might have been a garage and smoke quickly spread to the rest of the home at 1282 Sherman Ave. The residents got out and were able to move a car out of the driveway before firefighters arrived minutes later.

Firefighters could be seen entering the home as the fire burned around them. Within minutes the large flames subsided as the poured gallons of water from several hoses from the trucks that surrounded the home.

A group of people who appeared to live there huddled outside the house watching the firefighters work. One said they would have no comment on the fire and how it may have started. One woman cradled a small dog in her arms.

Fire Chief David Berardesca said Tuesday that the cause of the fire is still under investigation. "We don't have a cause right now," he said.

Luckily the snow wasn't as much of a problem as it could have been, he said, because it had been sufficiently removed from the road to allow them to get trucks in and access the house.

But there was problems with live wires going into the house and keeping firefighters away from them as they worked, Berardesca said. One firefighter was injured when a falling ceiling tile struck him, he said. That firefighter was treated and released from Yale-New Haven Hospital.

Because of the extensive damage the fire caused to the entire houuse, it will not be inhabitable for some time, the chief said.