By Olivia Drake, HVFC Public Information Officer.
(January 11, 2020) — Firefighters saved a 133-year-old historic building today following a structure fire in Higganum.
At 2:35 p.m., Haddam Volunteer Fire Company was dispatched to a home on Saybrook Road for a chimney fire. The call was re-toned as a structure fire and mutual aid companies from Killingworth, Middletown South District, Chester, Haddam Neck, and Durham responded to the scene. Old Saybrook and East Haddam departments also responded but were canceled en route.
The homeowners had made a fire in a wood stove when they noticed flames coming from their chimney pipe. They immediately called 911. 
Upon arrival, firefighters quickly worked to attack the fire from the exterior, and also went inside the structure to open the ceiling and extinguish the fire from within. South District provided a ladder truck to access and check the roofline for extension.
The house is the former St. Peter’s Roman Catholic Church, built in 1887. According to the Haddam Historical Society, the building was sold to private owners in 1960 when a new church was built on Maple Avenue.
Crews blocked a section of Saybrook Road for two hours during the incident. The Haddam Fire Marshal is investigating.
Photos by Olivia Drake.
