Crime & Safety

Stamford Fire Officials: Shippan Avenue Home Lacked Smoke Detectors [UPDATED]

As local fire investigators discover more about the fatal fire at 2267 Shippan Ave., Stamford and other communities continue to mourn.

The Christmas morning fire at 2267 Shippan Ave. that took the lives of five people may have a lasting effect upon several communities as the victims are remembered.

Stamford's team of fire investigators have stated that the mansion at 2267 Shippan Ave. did not have an operational smoke detector system, and the second floor of the home was lacking building certificates, according to News 12

Fire officials also stated that the original "balloon" construction of the home might have allowed the fire to spread faster.

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During a recent press conference at the , Mayor Michael Pavia suggested that 2267 Shippan was the first job that Madonna Badger's boyfriend Michael Borcina, 52, performed in Stamford as a licensed building contractor.

"If you look at the inspection chronology and the inspection reports, that's probably the only job that he's conducted in the city of Stamford, but all of his procedures were correct. He had inspections in a timely fashion, he called them in when required, and he did this between the rough inspection and the final inspection," Pavia said.

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Borcina was released from Stamford Hospital on Wednesday morning, having suffered from smoke inhalation and a knee injury.

During Tuesday's press conference, local fire officials made it clear that while renovations were being done in many different areas of the home, the second floor was still going through a lengthy phase of inspections and could not be legally occupied. Fire officials were not clear if the second floor was being occupied by at the time of the fire.

The staff of White Plains, N.Y.'s , where the three child fatalities , are already preparing to counsel students when they return on Jan. 6. The deaths of Lily Badger, 10, and 7-year-old twins Grace and Sarah caused school staff members to meet at school during winter vacation and discussed their feelings about the incident and how they would address it with their students. 

The Heritage Village residential area in Southbury, CT mourns for Lomer and Pauline Johnson. Acting Fire Chief Antonio Conte confirmed earlier this week that Lomer died while trying to get at least one of his grandchildren out of the burning home from a window on the second floor.

"The grandfather made it to the back of the house. He obviously found one of the young children, because he guided her to the window that he went through. When he stepped through that window, his life ended," Conte said. "...He fell face-forward, because that is the position we had found him in, and then we found the little girl, just inside that structure, just inside that window."

A Heritage Village neighbor of the Johnsons, Leo Ditkoff, remembered the last time he saw Lomer Johnson in an article by .

"I sat right next to Lomer just last week," Ditkoff said. "I didn't know him well, but when he sat down I looked at his big white beard and told him he should play Santa Claus. He looked back at me and said 'Ho, Ho, Ho, I do.'"

According to a report by the NY Daily News, Johnson felt that his job as a mall Santa was the best job he'd ever had, and mall staff referred to Johnson as simply a "great guy."

Mayor Pavia also confirmed that some of the fire and police rescue personnel at 2267 Shippan Ave. will go through post-traumatic counseling.

"After 38 years on the job, you're never prepared for anything like this," Conte said. "I had to recall 70 firefighters for debriefing, and most of them broke down ... our job is to rescue people when they're in danger. You feel like when you don't make that rescue, you fail."

Stamford's Red Cross supplied rescue personnel with canteens and food for the entirety of Dec. 25.

"I had the task to find food for our canteening efforts on a day when most local restaurants were closed," Red Cross volunteer Angela Malizia told Patch. "I was hopeful to see the open sign lit up on the front window of Fiddler's Green. They did not hesitate to help as soon as I walked in and told them what was happening just a few blocks away.

"The owners and customers went above and beyond with the immediate action of cooking and donating of the food, loading my car and giving comforting assurance that we had a place we could rely on if we needed anything else."

Stamford government officials have not commented on the status or location of Madonna Badger, homeowner and survivor of the fire at 2267 Shippan Ave., mother to the three girls killed in the tragedy, and daughter to Lomer and Pauline Johnson.

The original story, published Wednesday, Dec. 28, follows.

Fatal Christmas Day Fire in Stamford Ruled 'Accidental in Nature'

Top fire investigators have concluded that Sunday morning's fatal fire on Shippan Avenue was accidental and caused by discarded embers.

The head fire marshals investigating the at a Shippan Avenue residence that killed two adults and three children revealed their preliminary findings during a at the .

"On the behalf of the entire Stamford community, of whom I represent, our thoughts and prayers are with the families and friends of these people that we lost in a tragic Christmas fire that took the lives of three children and their grandparents," Mayor Michael Pavia said as the conference began. "Over the last several days, we've made every effort to determine the cause of this tragedy."

Pavia stated that conclusions in the investigation had been reached, specifying one conclusion as the most frustrating.

"Despite heroic efforts, five people lost their lives in this catastrophic blaze, and nothing will ever change that," he said.

Stamford fire marshals Antonio Conte and Barry Callahan, who are leading the investigation, then elaborated on its causes.

Callahan confirmed that the fire was "accidental in nature" and started on the first floor of the Badger residence in the immediate area of a mudroom and trash bin enclosures. He said the fire was started by hot fireplace ash and embers, which had been thrown out within the area around 3 a.m. Sunday morning.  

"The fire entered the house quickly, and spread through the first floor," Callahan said.

According to Conte, fire dispatch was called at 4:52 a.m., and the first fire truck arrived within six minutes.

Homeowner Madonna Badger, who'd already escaped the home, told the first response team that her children -- 10-year-old Lily and 7-year-old twins Grace and Sarah -- were sleeping on the third floor. Conte stated that this fire crew laddered up to the third floor and pushed through several rooms to find the three children.

Badger's companion, Michael Borcina, who escaped the fire, also attempted to rescue the children by going back inside the building and leading two of them downstairs from the third floor to the second, but in the heat, smoke and confusion, two girls ran off -- one went back upstairs and the other ran elsewhere in the burning home.

The body of one of those children was found with her grandmother Pauline Johnson near the stairway at the front of the house.

Badger also tried to get back into the building, but the flames prevented her, and firefighters who found her still attempting to get in brought her back away from the flames.

Badger's father Lomer Johnson got out of a second-story window, but fell, face first, to his death two stories below at the back of the house. Another grandchild was found on some books near the window Johnson fell from.

Fire officials believe Johnson had hoped to get out of the window, climb on some rafters that were there during a construction project on the house, and somehow grab the child so they could both make their escape. Johnson and his wife were both residents of . 

After a second rescue attempt by the team, three firefighters were injured. "We had one captain who received second degree burns to his face [and] we had two firefighters that suffered from smoke inhalation," Conte added.

Other fire crews suppressed the spread of the fire from the outside. "Obviously, we were unable to rescue anyone in that structure, and it's a sad day for the fire department," Conte said.

The conference did not clear up whether or not Badger's family was occupying the second floor of the structure, which was undergoing renovation. Under city building regulations, a permit is needed before people can move back into areas undergoing extensive renovations.

On the second floor of the home, it was only permissible for the master bedroom to be used. Whether or not family members were sleeping there when the fire began is not yet known, city officials said. The first and third floors were available for legal occupation, they said.

It was also unclear whether or not a working smoke alarm or other fire detection system was operating at the time. Some initial comments from city officials at first seemed to indicate that no alarm system was in use, but later in the news conference, city officials said they simply didn't know.

"Ms. Badger lost her three children and her two parents," Mayor Pavia said when questioned about Badger's role in the preliminary investigation. "When we made the initial contact with Ms. Badger, the last thing on our minds to talk to her about was not if her building permits was valid, or whether her smoke detectors were working. There were much more important things that had to be attended to regarding Ms. Badger. As the follow-up investigation continues, and it will continue, those are the kinds of questions that will be asked ... but not now."

Pavia and city marshals were not forthcoming as to the location and status of either Badger or Borcina.

When asked if there were structural problems in the home that could have worsened the fire, Callahan stated that he wasn't aware of any at the moment.

Stamford fire investigators could not point to any external causes of the fire besides fire embers and stressed that their investigation was in its earliest stages, ongoing and of the highest priority.

Editor's note: Darien Patch Editor David Gurliacci contributed to this article.


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