Tenants Escape Conn. Fire; Man Saves Elderly Woman

March 30--DERBY -- Theresa Tiano was resting in bed Thursday afternoon in the Olivia Street apartment she's called home for the past 49 years. Handicapped, Tiano, 76, lived alone except for her six parakeets, which she considers her babies.

Although she said she smelled smoke, she thought it was just one of the other tenants in the six-family, three story dwelling, "cooking something."

However, that wasn't the case. A mattress on the front porch of Tiano's third-floor neighbor was on fire and that blaze quickly spread. While several of the tenants in the building were able to get outside immediately, Tiano was still inside her home.

"I didn't know what was going on," she said.

That was until Chris Esteves was at her door.

Esteves, 24, of Ansonia, had been in the area for an appointment and was walking by the building when he saw the fire. He asked people outside if everyone was out and they told him no. "They said there's an older woman who lives on the top floor who seldom goes out and they knew she was home because her car was parked on the street," he said. Esteves said he ran up the stairs to Tiano's apartment and knocked on the door, but she didn't answer. "I tried the door and it opened and I went inside and saw her standing there," he said.

Tiano asked Esteves "what's going on," and he told her the place was on fire and they needed to "get out now."

He said Tiano was able to walk down the stairs, but it took a while because she uses a cane. He said when he got her out the front door, debris began falling from the porch area. "I found a mat on the front steps and put it over her head to shield her from it," he said.

Esteves, who also came to the aid of an elderly Ansonia couple in a house fire several years ago, got Tiano safely across the street where she stood watching her home burn.

At one point, someone brought her a blanket to keep her warm. Others felt she should be checked out by EMS personnel at the scene. Tiano wouldn't budge. "I'm not moving from here," she said. "I want to get back inside."

Foremost, she said, was her concern for her parakeets -- Lucia, Joya, Bambi, Butchie, Linda and baby Francis -- who, after fleeing from their cages, were unaccounted for.

For at least an hour after the fire was extinguished, a black cat named Angel, owned by Steven Dennis, was also missing. The feline was later found by firefighters, unharmed, and was carried out of the building -- to a round of applause -- by Firefighter Louis Oliwa, who also carried out an urn containing the remains of Dennis' grandmother.

Dennis, 27, who lives in the third-floor apartment next to Tiano, said, he too, smelled smoke around 12:43 p.m. and checked outside and found a mattress on his front porch "in flames."

He said that, at that time, he felt he could contain it before firefighters arrived, but the fire "started spreading."

Firefighters arriving on the scene at 12:46 p.m. -- just three minutes after the call came in -- found the porch engulfed in an inferno, which spread rapidly through the upper portions of the building at 92-94 Olivia St., across the street from the Derby Superior Court and next to the Derby Post Office.

Besides Tiano, three other occupants in the building were able to escape unharmed.

"We are happy that no one was hurt -- that's always our No. 1 concern," said Mayor Anthony Staffieri, who was on the scene comforting tenants of the building, after calling in the Valley Chapter of the American Red Cross for help.

Among those displaced by the blaze was Marta Marin, 39, who lived in the building for 12 years with her two children. Her apartment was right below Tiano's. "I'm not sure how bad it was for us -- how much damage there is," she said. "I'm just hurting right now for everyone in the building."

She said, in particular, she felt sorry for Tiano. "She's had a hard time and has always been like an aunt to me," Marin said, tearfully hugging Tiano.

Doug Leone, who has owned the building for eight years, said about 17 people lived there.

Besides Derby, firefighters from Shelton and Ansonia, a total of about 50 personnel, responded to the scene, with Orange firefighters on standby, said Deputy Fire Marshal Joseph Stobierski. He credited Shelton's Echo Hose Fire Company with arriving quickly after the fire call came in with their ladder truck.

EMS was also on the scene.

The cause of the fire and the extent of damage have not yet been determined. Derby fire crews planned to remain at the scene for a "fire watch" until 8 a.m. Friday.

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