The New London Fire Department responded to a former lumberyard this morning after a homeless man reportedly started a fire in a vacant building to keep warm.
Deputy Fire Chief Henry Kydd said Amtrak employees checking equipment nearby reported the fire at about 11:20 a.m. Kydd said firefighters forced their way into the two and a half story wood frame building at 150 Howard Street and found that combustible materials in a shopping cart had been set ablaze.
The cart was removed and quickly extinguished using water from tanker trucks. Kydd said firefighters started putting down lines after responding to the building but found they were not necessary. He said the New London Police Department was also called to the scene and the property owner was contacted in order to re-secure the building.
The building is on the property of the former Miner & Alexander lumberyard, which closed in 2006.
