UPDATE From Westport Fire Department:

At 8:53 this evening the Westport Fire Department Communications Center received a 911 call from an employee at Trader Joes on the Post Road reporting a fire in a refrigeration unit inside the store. The employee was attempting to extinguish the fire using a fire extinguisher but was unsuccessful. Dispatch advised the employee to pull the fire alarm to evacuate the store. Two engines, a truck company, and the shift commander responded initially. The first unit to arrive found smoke coming from the front of the store so the call was upgraded to a full structure fire response bringing an additional two engines from Westport and an additional engine from Fairfield. Firefighters confirmed with Trader Joes management that the store was fully evacuated and then located a deep seated fire inside a freezer unit. As the fire was being controlled, firefighters checked surrounding stores for extension of the smoke and made their way to the basement of Trader Joes to secure power inside the store. The fire was quickly confined to a small area
within the store’s main level and fully extinguished within approximately 15 minutes, while firefighters checked the surrounding areas of the store with thermal imaging cameras.
During the fire, Norwalk Fire Department provided coverage at Westport Headquarters for any simultaneous emergency calls. The last Westport fire unit cleared the scene at 10:31PM
The Westport Fire Marshal’s office is investigating the cause of the fire.

Never ignore a fire alarm, assume that it is a false alarm or that it is a test. The most important thing you can do when the fire alarm sounds leave the building and do not re-enter the building until advised to do so by the Fire Department.

9:00pm–#Westport Ct– Firefighters on scene of a reported structure fire at Trader Joe’s at 400 Post Road East.  Norwalk is providing mutual aid firehouse coverage.

This news report is made possible by: