Fires in Hartford have displaced almost 3,000 people since 2020

At a Hartford city council meeting on Dec. 8 , Ryan Pirre recalled the night he thought he was going to die. “Every time I hear a multi-truck response when I’m on a break at work … all I can think about is myself getting rescued,” Pirre said. Pirre was rescued from a fire at 271 Wethersfield Ave. in October that displaced him and 25 other tenants , making him one of at least 458 Hartford residents who lost their homes in a fire last year and one of almost 3,000 Hartford residents who have been displaced by fire in the last six years, according to the city fire marshal’s office. That’s the equivalent of about 2.4% of Hartford’s population, a much higher rate than some other Connecticut cities. Hartford residents had a 1 in 264 chance of being displaced by a fire last year, compared to rates of 1 in 677 in New Haven, 1 in 935 in Bridgeport and 1 in 2,209 in West Hartford, where the buildings are newer and the residents are wealthier. The reason why Hartford’s rate is higher is a matter of some debate, but Hartford residents who have had to leave their homes claim negligence on the part of their landlords and a city that turns a blind eye. Hartford officials, while acknowledging that annual inspections are lagging, say their hands are tied if landlords won’t let them into apartments to respond to complaints or conduct inspections. The result is one of the highest rates of fire displacements in Connecticut. Stamford, Danbury, and Waterbury do not collect data on how many residents are displaced each year. Instead they rely on the Red Cross to track only how many displaced residents reach out for housing assistance. The Red Cross could not be reached for comment. But data show that Hartford has more fires that displace people each year than New Haven, despite a smaller population. And when a damaging fire in Hartford does occur, it leaves more people displaced. Displacements caused by fires occur across the city. As recently as May 21, there was a fire on Bedford Street that displaced 19 people . But the residents who live in neighborhoods centered around Wethersfield Avenue, like South Meadows, Barry Square and Charter Oak — two of which are majority Latino — are more than twice as likely to be displaced as the average Hartford resident, according to a CT Mirror analysis of fire data. Frog Hollow, another majority Latino neighborhood located farther west, is also a hot spot. And these areas have housing with more units than the Hartford average. Hartford, like the rest of the state, struggles with a lack of housing that’s affordable and available for its lowest-income renters. Rents have risen over the past few years, and Hartford and Bridgeport have some of the oldest housing stock in the nation. It was the fire that residents had seen coming. Tenants at 271 Wethersfield Ave. said they had complained to their landlord, Israel Wiznitzer, for years about issues including electrical wiring problems, a leaking roof and power outages.