Firefighters were inside the second floor of the building. An Avon Street house owned by Bethany-based landlord Jianchao Xu caught fire for the second time in less than three weeks on Monday, displacing four tenants who had recently moved back in and prompting the city to condemn the six-unit b uilding. City officials shared those updates on Monday outside of 56-58 Avon St., where alarms rang and smoke billowed through the early afternoon. The fire began at around 1:10 p.m. on the right side of the house, the same place where a fire started on Feb. 28, according to Acting Fire Chief Daniel Coughlin. While the Feb. 28 fire originated in the basement, Monday’s fire started on the first floor. Coughlin said two people were in the house when the fire began. One person went to the hospital for smoke inhalation, and the other person declined medical care. Repeat fires are “atypical but not improbable,” said Coughlin. He said the department is still investigating the cause of Monday’s fire. The Avon Street property is owned by a company controlled by Xu. The house’s back-to-back fires come two years after a November 2023 basement fire displaced 26 people from the same six-unit building. Xu’s other local properties have seen five fires over the last two years, including one at 516 Elm St. in October 2024 that left a 32-year-old man dead. On Monday, Xu — who was at the scene on Avon Street — declined the Independent’s requests for comments, saying he was “heartbroken” and experiencing chest pains. Xu spent at least an hour speaking with fire investigators outside of 56-58 Avon St. “I spoke to [Xu] and expressed my concerns,” said Mayor Justin Elicker, who also went to the scene of the Avon Street fire Monday afternoon. “We’ve been having a lot of discussions internally about trend of fires at his properties.” Given the prevalence of fires at Xu’s rentals, Elicker said the city is investigating its options for holding the landlord accountable. In the meantime, the New Haven Fire Department will continue its work on identifying the cause of the fire. Elicker said the department will bring a dog to sniff for accelerants, which is not a step taken for every investigation. Livable City Initiative (LCI) Executive Director Liam Brennan, who was also outside of 56-58 Avon St. on Monday, said four of the 17 tenants displaced by the Feb. 28 fire had returned to their apartments from temporary accommodations. He believes the four returning tenants were living in 56 Avon St., since the right side of the building — 58 Avon St. — had been boarded up and condemned. Brennan said that LCI would ensure the four re-displaced tenants have somewhere to live. The entire house has now been condemned, according to Brennan. On Monday, officials from the Building Department posted signs restricting access to the home. The landlord “should be in jail,” said Anne Watkins, a neighbor on Avon Street. “People deserve to live in a safe building. The city should be holding him accountable.” By contrast, a married couple that lives on Avon Street described Xu as “very nice.” They could not explain the pattern of fires at Xu’s properties and hesitated to blame Xu himself. “When you have so many people there cooking and those types of things, you never know,” theorized the husband. Top-ranking city officials, including Mayor Elicker, Chief of Staff Sean Matteson, LCI Executive Director Liam Brennan, Acting Fire Chief Daniel Coughlin, and city Building Official Bob Dillon were coordinating city efforts on Monday. Xu (center, with back to camera) spoke with fire investigators outside of 56-58 Avon St. The building department put up signs indicating that the building is dangerous. It was also wrapped in red danger tape. The post Avon House Catches Fire. Again appeared first on New Haven Independent. ...read more read less