A brush fire in southern Newtown Monday afternoon drew a response from three of the town’s fire companies, and a strongly-worded advisory from one of the many local fire service volunteers who helped fight it.

A Meadowbrook Road resident was reportedly using a recreational burn pit in their back yard on April 3, and wind carried some of the sparks from the fire into ground cover, according to multiple sources. The sparks ignited fires, quickly spreading toward a shed.

Botsford Fire Rescue and Newtown Hook & Ladder were dispatched to the property at 2:27 pm.

With firefighters already responding in recent weeks to large brush fires in town and beyond, Botsford Fire Rescue Captain Kyle Placko made the early decision to call for a third company once the first reports from the scene started.

Placko served as incident command.

“We were dispatched, along with Newtown Hook & Ladder,” he said April 5. “When I heard that there was a possible structure involved I decided to get the third due company, which was Sandy Hook, onto the call too.”

A fire marshal was also sent to the fire due to the structure. Deputy Fire Marshal Dave Ober explained this week that while the structure in this case was a shed, a fire marshal will be sent to any call that involves a structure.

“Fortunately this turned out to be just that — your typical shed, with tools and ordinary items stored in it, away from the house,” Ober said April 5. The shed housed some flammables, he confirmed, “but nothing out of the ordinary.”

The 108-square-foot shed was approximately 50 yards north of the rear of the home. The two-acre property features a large yard, with well defined tree lines along the north and eastern sides.

Sandy Hook Volunteer Fire & Rescue Chief Anthony Capozziello was already in the area when his company was added to the call. Capozziello ended up being among the first fire officers on scene, and reported the shed was on fire when he arrived.

Placko estimates 20 firefighters responded to the scene.

He said embers from the fire pit “blew out and caught the leaves on the tree line. The winds pushed it through the woods, which then caught the shed, which was tucked in on the tree line, on fire.”

Placko said the fire then spread to Washbrook Road, which runs along the north side of the property.

“It then spread along a stone wall in the woods and along Washbrook,” he added. “Some of the bigger standing dead wood was burning also. We made a stop on it as it pushed into the woods.”

Multi-Stage Attack

Firefighters went in from Meadowbrook as well as Washbrook to get to the fire. Washbrook, which connects Meadowbrook to Kay Lane and Cold Spring Road, was closed between Meadowbrook and Kay while firefighters were on the scene.

“Having Washbrook and Meadowbrook on either side made it easy to come from both sides,” Placko said. “We parked right on Washbrook and deployed hose lines right off the side of the apparatus.”

Nearly 30,000 square feet of ground and trees were burned before the fire was fully doused.

Firefighters were on scene for approximately an hour Monday.

Ober said while the burn pit at the property “was established, with stones surrounded by about 15 feet of crushed stone, and the idea was the fire wouldn’t extend,” the weather conditions worked against the person using the fire pit that afternoon.

“The wind did not help that day,” he said. “It sparked up a few sparks, and it traveled.”

Placko and others have responded to multiple brush fire calls in recent weeks. He asks readers to be mindful of the season, weather conditions, and their own actions.

“This one didn’t start with cigarette butts, but we’ve been to fires that start along the side of the road after people throw them out the window,” he said. “Please just keep in mind that cigarette butts shouldn’t go out the window, and if you’re having camp fires or bonfires, keep them covered.

“Also keep in mind the fire levels,” he continued.

CT DEEP puts Connecticut’s spring fire season as running from mid-March to mid-May. According to the state agency, this is the time of year when deciduous trees are bare and the warm spring sun heats up the forest fuels including grasses, leaves, twigs, branches, and decaying material in the soil. The state agency issues a Forest Fire Danger Report daily.

“Right now, everything’s still dry and easy to light,” said Placko. “We’ve had long periods with no rain, so it’s all dried out. Even though we’ve had a little rain, it’s still very dry out there. Keep mind of that.”

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Managing Editor Shannon Hicks can be reached at shannon@thebee.com.