Date: Fri 01-Sep-1995

Publication: Bee

Author: KAAREN

Quick Words:

weather-dry-fire-extreme-

Full Text:

Fire Officials Urge Extreme Caution In Tinder Dry Conditions

B Y K AAREN V ALENTA

The official fire danger index rose to "extreme" this week as the state

endured one of its driest August in decades.

Sandy Hook firefighters battled two brush fires on Monday which fire officials

said were deliberately set. The fires, in isolated wooded areas off Bishop's

Circle and Valley Field Road, definitely were not accidental, according to

Fire Marshal George Lockwood.

"The fire off Valley Field Road was set set by (someone) who knew what he was

doing and really wanted to get a good fire going," Mr Lockwood said. "If the

fire hadn't been noticed so quickly by a crew on a CL&P truck, we would have

been there in for days trying to put it out."

William Halstead, chief of the Sandy Hook Volunteer Fire and Rescue Company

and an assistant fire marshal, agreed.

"The fire was set," he said. "It burned alongside the road, up the bank and up

the hill into the woods. It was really going good by the time we got there."

Chief Halstead said the firefighters spent two hours using shovels and rakes

to get at the fire, which was burning underground, and to put water on the hot

spots."

The fire off Valley Field Road was reported at 2:31 pm. The fire on Bishop's

Circle was reported at 9:48 that morning but might have been burning for a day

or more, according to Chief Halstead.

"It was burning about 1,500 to 2,000 feet from the nearest house but the

person who reported it said they had smelled smoke over the weekend," he said.

"It wasn't reported until a woman out walking her dog actually saw it."

Twelve firefighters spent nearly an hour battling that brush fire, again

digging up six to eight inches of the ground to reach spots where the fire was

burning beneath the surface.

There was no way to determine whether the same person had set both fires, the

fire marshals said. But they said the fires were not due to lightening, camp

fires, carelessly tossed cigarettes or other accidental causes. Another small

brush fire on Monday occurred when a man who was using a torch to cut up a

piece of old equipment for disposal accidentally sparked a blaze on Kelly

Court in Botsford.

Three Dry Weeks

It has been more than three weeks since Newtown has had any significant

rainfall. Three-hundreds of an inch fell on August 15; the last substantial

rainfall occurred on August 5-6. So far this year 22.4 inches of rain has

fallen compared with the average of 31.78 inches. By this date last year,

Newtown had 42.25 inches of rain.

"This is the first time in the six years that I have worked in the dispatch

center at Edmond Town Hall that I have seen a warning issued by the state of

an extreme fire danger," said Jim Crouch, director of the 911 center. "Usually

it is just `high' or `very high.'"

"Many of my customers have commented that their wells are running dry," said

Postal clerk Rich Rauner at the Newtown Post Office. "There is a 15-foot deep

excavation for a house on a lot alongside the (Housatonic) river and it's bone

dry. That's scary."

According to Jeff Thomas at the Techni-Weather Center in Danbury, the longest

time that the area went without rain was 24 days during November of 1931. But

the summers of the mid-60s were the driest, with rainfall of 15 to 20 inches

below normal each year.

"The reservoirs are still full and we're not too bad off yet," Mr Thomas said.

"It's just that the groundwater supplies are drying up which is bad for people

with shallow wells and for vegetation."

Water conservation tips were published in a recent edition of The Bee and are

available from the Newtown Health District. Health officials have advised

residents to stop using water for 24 hours if their wells begin to run dry

(the water will be begin to turn brown or the pressure will drop) or risk the

possibility of burning up their well pump. After the well recovers, space out

water usage to avoid putting stress on the well. Use water only for household

purposes, not for watering lawns and gardens or washing cars, they said.

Residents also are urged to use extreme caution with fire.

"Normally a tossed cigarette or cigar won't spark a brush fire but conditions

are right now for that to happen," Chief Halstead said. "Camp fires also are a

hazard because even if they are doused with water, the fire might have gone

underground and can continue to burn without anyone realizing it."

Except for campfires, residents always are prohibited from open burning

without a permit. Dodgingtown firefighters were called out on Wednesday for an

illegal burn on Equestrian Ridge Road.

Frank Hufner of Cedar Hill Farm said the drought has had a definite impact on

his crops. "It's been extremely dry but we're surprised by the amount of

produce that we still have," he said. "Things like eggplants, a lot of

peppers, cucumbers and tender plants with shallow roots have really suffered

and we're harvesting barely any of those."