The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
New Hartford House barbershop vows to reopen after fire
NEW HARTFORD — Alanna Sartirana has a tattoo on the inside of her left arm that reads, “Everything happens for a reason.”
But she was hard-pressed to determine what the reason was for an Aug. 10 fire that destroyed her business, New Hartford Barber Co., which was located in the historic New Hartford
House in the center of town.
“I got the call at 3 a.m. from my uncle (David Sartirana) who is a member of the Winsted Fire Department, saying that the building was burning,” the Barkhamsted woman said. “I live five minutes away, so I rushed to the scene and it was an awful sight. I thought at first that maybe I could salvage something because the exterior was standing. But the interior of the building was made of wood and was gutted. I lost all my tools and pretty much everything I had in my shop.”
Now, the site is an empty lot, save for some crumbled remains of the shops, offices and apartments once contained within the building. Work crews tore down what was left of the landmark structure the day after the fire. It was deemed a safety hazard
because it sits so close to heavily traveled Route 44 and nearby Bridge Street in the town’s small business center.
Sartirana wasn’t alone in losing her business — five others were operating in the building, along with almost two-dozen tenants in apartments on the second floor. The barbershop owner realized she wasn’t alone.
“I thought to myself that,
yes, I felt bad because I lost so much and I was shut down,” she said. “But I really felt bad for the other business, people like Paul Rossman and his wife, Cheryl Clay, who owned Cool Stones Hot Rocks. They had so much in there. And the people living upstairs who lost everything they had. I can buy new tools, but they can’t replace much of what they lost.”
Sartirana also expressed sadness over the death of 26-year-old Burlington firefighter Colin McFadden of Bristol, who suffered a medical emergency while fighting the fire and died a few days later. McFadden was rushed to John Dempsey Hospital where he underwent emergency surgery. Fire officials confirmed later that doctors discovered McFadden had an undiagnosed form of leukemia.
“He reportedly was such a wonderful person and did so much in his community. It was very upsetting,” Sartirana said.
Sartirana, who studied hairdressing at Oliver Wolcott Technical School in Torrington, graduating in 2014, lost much of what she considered her prized possessions — a collection of plants, lovingly cared for, that made her shop come alive for the many patrons who came for haircuts, she
said.
“I had my plants that I loved and most of them were burned by the fire,” she said. “But I did pull some of them out and am trying to bring them back, like my prized desert roses. Everyone that came into my shop would comment on the plants and flowers and thought they were wonderful.”
Also saved from the blaze was a beta fish. “Ty O’Neil, a firefighter friend of mine, grabbed the beta and gave it to me,” she said. “Someone donated a five-gallon tank and the fish is doing well.”
Sartirana opened up her shop in December 2020, and said business was becoming brisk.
“I was thrilled at how things were going,” she said. “This has always been a dream of mine, to open up a barbershop and I finally had made it. My grandfather always told me that I should have my own place and work for myself and he would have been proud.”
She made up her mind to move forward from the loss of her business after the initial shock. “I started to tell myself that things were going to be OK and that I could rebound from it,” she said.
While the barbershop was open, Sartirana said she was welcomed, and felt
part of the business community.
“There were a few barbers in town that had retired and I filled a void,” she said. “I had worked in several shops cutting hair, which was always something I wanted to do . ... I knew one day I would have my own shop.”
After searching for several months for a proper location, she settled on a space in the New Hartford House and made it into a reflection of her laid back, cultured lifestyle, she said.
Sartirana has gotten plenty of support from family, friends and clients, who have vowed to stick with her for their haircuts.
“I haven’t been cutting hair but I plan to quickly reopen in another location close by,” she said. “And I hope my clients will come back. I think they will.”
She jokingly told of several phone calls she received after the fire.
“One person asked me if I was still cutting hair, and someone had an appointment for the day after the fire and asked if we were still on for a haircut. I was kind of stunned. But the overwhelming response from everyone has been positive, caring and supportive,” she said.
She talked of her immediate future. “I could have felt
sorry for myself and been upset, which I was, for a long time. But I told myself that I would get over it and move on.” Which she has. At the end of the conversation she hung up from a phone call and said that she was going to sign a lease to occupy a space at 537 Main St., not far from the ruins of her former shop.
“It’s a real nice space and has a great feel to it. I need to get everything I need to set up shop but that is in the works and I hope to reopen as soon as possible. I don’t know if this is a temporary location or not. If they rebuild on the property where the burned building is I hope they reserve a space for me. I would like to be a part of that process.”
She plans to fill her new shop with plants, flowers and anything else she can to give it that homey, comfortable feeling she took such pride in creating at her former location. And she plans to put up a barber’s pole she salvaged from the exterior of the New Hartford House.
“I want to get those desert roses blooming again and I think I can do it,” Sartirana said.