WILTON — A toddler playing with fire is the cause of an early morning fire Monday that damaged a two-story home at 5 Kent Drive in Dryden village, a fire official said.

And authorities are now looking into getting the 3-year-old boy help because this is the second fire he started in less than eight months, the official said.

“I know the fire marshal’s office was making calls to other agencies to get some help for the child and his family,” Wilton Fire Department Assistant Chief Kyle Ellis said. “Usually, when it’s an older child we have programs that we can put them through. But I’ve never had to deal with one so young.”

Homeowner Barbara Dalot heard “popping sounds from the upstairs” at about 6 a.m., Ellis said. When she got to the stairs, she saw smoke coming from a front bedroom and left the home with her 3-year-old great-grandson. No one was in the room and no one was injured, he said.

Dalot’s son, Bruce Quirrion, two adult grandsons and the 3-year-old great-grandson were living with her but only Dalot and the child were home at the time, Quirrion said at the scene after coming home from work.

Ellis said the State Fire Marshal’s Office was called to help determine the cause. Investigators determined that the blaze was most likely set by the toddler, Ellis said.

He said Monday night that he did not have the full report, so he was not sure what the boy used to light the fire, but it appeared the blaze started with some books and paper on a nightstand.

Last February, the same boy also caused a fire at an apartment building in Jay where he was living at the time, according to Ellis. He said the circumstances were similar to Monday’s fire in that the boy was either playing with a lighter or matches and lit paper on fire.

A Red Cross representative had been there and promised to help the family members with lodging for a few days, he said. The home was insured.

The second-story bedroom received the most damage, with two other bedrooms, a hallway and rooms downstairs receiving smoke and water damage. The home is not in a livable condition, Ellis said. He did not have an estimate on the amount of damage.

About 30 firefighters from Wilton, Farmington, Jay and Livermore Falls knocked down the fire within 20 minutes, he said. A NorthStar ambulance crew was also at the scene.

Dalot, nearing 80, has lived in the home for about 38 years, grandson William Ames said at the scene. Some family members gathered and remembered the times spent with her at the home.  Dalot left the scene for a relative’s home nearby on  Depot Street.

Staff writer Andie Hannon contributed to this report.

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