WEST HARTFORD — A 74-year-old man pulled from his burning Brainard Road home is recovering, fire officials said.
Eugene Filshtein was rescued from his Brainard Road home by West Hartford firefighters who responded after a police officer found smoke pouring from the house.
The fire’s cause was not determined, Assistant Fire Chief Richard Winn said. It appears to have started in the basement and did not involve the heating system, he said. A state police dog checked for accelerants and detected none, Winn said. The fire is considered accidental, he said.
The fire burned for an extended period until it was discovered, Winn said. A West Hartford police officer working nearby on Route 44 reported smelling smoke for an extended period of time and went looking for its source. He found it at 15 Brainard about noon and the Connecticut Light & Power Co. crew he was working with immediately disconnected power to the house, Winn said.Firefighters from station 4 in Bishops Corner were on the scene first and began checking for the source of the fire. They found Filshtein near the back door.
The fire had burned through the basement ceiling into the first floor, Winn said.
Curt Isakson is a 35 year veteran of the fire service. Curt is currently a Battalion Chief for Escambia County Fire Rescue. Previously worked 9 years with the Pensacola Fire Department where he was assigned as the Company Officer on Rescue 31. Curt’s fire service experiences started at a young age as a Junior firefighter with the Midway Fire Protection District and rose through the ranks to Captain. He has worked in volunteer, career, and combination departments.
Curt has held all ranks up to Battalion Chief and been assigned to operations, training, inspections, and was Chief of Special Operations for 7 years. Curt owns and operates County Fire Tactics that covers a very diverse range of fire service topics, as well as Firefighter Rescues, a site that documents rescues made by firefighters around the country.
He has annual contracts with numerous departments to provide standardized monthly training for these departments that respond daily together under an automatic aid agreement. Curt teaches nationally to include; FDIC, Firehouse Expo, Firehouse World, Orlando Fire Conference, Atlanta Fire Conference, Bowling Green State University, and owns/operates the annual HROC, COBC, WOTF, CFT ODP on Pensacola Beach. He is a Florida Certified Fire Officer, Instructor, Inspector, Arson, and FLUSAR.
