CAT KILLED, RESIDENTS DISPLACED BY FIRE NORWICH SEES 2ND FATAL WRECK ON I-395

Norwich — A fire that apparently began in the kitchen of an Occum home left the interior a “total loss,” killed a family pet and displaced at least three residents Monday night, according to fire officials.

Occum Volunteer Fire Department Chief Bob LaChapelle said the call for the blaze at 18 Lillibridge Road came in about 8:30 p.m. On arrival, firefighters saw heavy smoke pouring from the front of the house, prompting them to contact Taftville firefighters for assistance and request tankers from Lisbon and Baltic. There were no hydrants outside the home, which is at the far north end of the city.

LaChapelle said no one was home at the time. Firefighters, he said, knocked down the bulk of the fire in about 20 minutes. Because of the construction of the home, however, LaChapelle said firefighters had to open up all of its walls to ensure they reached each pocket of flames.

LaChapelle said he believes the blaze displaced three or four residents of the home. A cat died in the fire, he said.

Property records show the two-story house belongs to Matthew and Elaine Kalinowski, who purchased it in May last year.

The cause of the blaze was under investigation.

Norwich — A city man died early Tuesday morning after state police said he drove his car into another car on Interstate 395 north, sending both vehicles into the woods.

Johann H. Liebig Jr., 51, of 70 Taftville-Occum Road died in the crash. It’s the second fatal crash on I-395 north in Norwich in four days.

Police said Liebig was driving a 2003 Mercury Grand Marquis GS north near Exit 14 when he attempted to pass a 2012 Hyundai Elantra just after midnight. Both vehicles had been in the right of two lanes.

According to police, Liebig hit the Elantra as he tried to pass it, sending both vehicles off the roadway and into the woods.

The Elantra, being driven by 19-year-old Brooke Michele Fitch of Plainfield, came to a rest without hitting any trees, police said. Fitch was uninjured. Liebig’s car crashed into a tree; he died from his injuries.

According to the state Department of Transportation, a lane that had been closed due to the crash was reopened shortly after 6 a.m.

Police are asking anyone with information about the crash to call them at (860) 848-6500.

The fatal wreck is the latest in a series of serious crashes that have happened regionally over the past week.

Early Thursday, an Uncasville man died when the car he was driving traveled off the road and into a rock face off Interstate 395 south in Waterford. Occupants of seven vehicles escaped with minor injuries later Thursday, when police said a tractor-trailer following too closely set off a multi-car crash on Interstate 95 south in Waterford. Just a couple hours later, still in the afternoon, three people were seriously injured when a car plunged off a bridge and landed on a grassy portion of state Route 2 in Marlborough.

Friday brought another fatal crash, with the passenger of a car dying after the car collided with a truck on I-395 in Norwich. The deceased man was from West Haven; the wreck happened just south of Exit 13. On Saturday morning, a Griswold man died when the Subaru he was driving struck a stone wall and a tree off Stone Hill Road.

“Please be careful driving,” members of the Yantic Fire Engine Co. No. 1 urged in a Facebook post about Tuesday’s incident.