Nothing like walking into a news story

By Patricia Villers
Register Staff

    I’m torn about taking a stroll on the Ansonia Riverwalk today, even though it’s a sunny and springlike afternoon.
    That’s because shortly after 5 p.m. Monday, when I was finished with my work, my daughter and I decided it was time to check out what the new Riverwalk has to offer, in the way of 1) exercise and 2) photo ops.
    We headed down the hill from our Ansonia Hilltop home, only to get in the middle of a traffic tie-up on the bridge that carries Division Street over the Naugatuck River.
    We heard sirens and saw flashing lights ahead.
    It turned out that a fire had just been reported at the Taco Bell at 205 Division St., just a few yards from where we were stopped on the bridge.
    We went past the scene to the driveway leading into the Stop and Shop parking lot and parked. We walked quickly over to the Taco Bell area where volunteer firefighters from Ansonia and Derby were rushing and where firetrucks and ambulances from both cities were parked.
    Talk about being in the right place at the right time. As luck would have it, I had my camera with me, since I had planned to take photos of the vistas along the river to post here.
    I called a co-worker to tell her what was going on, and snapped some photos.
    A few minutes later I spoke with another colleague and dictated a brief story for the Register’s Web site.
    It could only be described as a deja vu experience for me, since only days before I had dictated a story for the Web site to the same colleague from the scene of a blaze at a six-family house at 92-94 Olivia St., Derby.
    In that fire, an Ansonia man rescued an elderly tenant.
    In this fire, the restaurant’s employees and customers evacuated unharmed.
    I am still thinking about going to photograph some river vistas this afternoon; guess I’ll just keep my fingers and toes crossed that all is quiet.