Small Fire,

Big Response

To the Editor:

I would like to thank the Dodgingtown and Newtown fire companies, and the dispatch service, for their quick response to our emergency call 2 am Monday morning. The first responder arrived less than five minutes later (before the smoke detector had even gone off). Within 20 minutes at least a dozen volunteer firefighters, two fire trucks, and numerous support vehicles were on the scene.

We bought this 1797 house 15 months ago and have been working almost nonstop on renovating it. A lot of blood, sweat, time, and money have gone into this house as it was near dead when we bought it. The care and respect you used to locate and extinguish the fire and minimize the damage was extraordinary. Though the fire was small, the damage could have been much greater had the response been slow or the volunteers less professional. A big thank you for your great service. We all as Newtowners are lucky to have such a fine group of volunteers.

Thank you all again.

Steve and Sha Carmichael

17 Robin Hill Road, Newtown                                  January 30, 2008