Date: Fri 18-Jul-1997

Publication: Bee

Author: KAAREN

Quick Words:

storm-Crouch-Halstead

Full Text:

Intense Summer Storm Leaves Town Reeling

(with photos)

BY KAAREN VALENTA

A short-lived but intense summer storm swept through Newtown Tuesday evening,

bringing fierce bursts of lightning that struck several houses, injured a

workman, sparked brush fires, knocked down trees and wires, and "electrified"

the high school.

Jim Crouch, chief of the 911 dispatch center in Edmond Town Hall, said that in

terms of emergency incidents, the center was the busiest it has been at any

time in the past 10 years.

At 5:45 pm the 911 emergency dispatch center in Edmond Town Hall received a

report that a man was struck by lightening at a house on White Oak Road, where

he was working on a water pump. Firefighters from the United Fire Company of

Botsford, emergency medical technicians from Newtown Volunteer Ambulance, and

the regional paramedic responded to the call. The victim, Ramon Velez of T&R

Water Pumps in Oxford, was transported by ambulance to Danbury Hospital, where

he was held overnight for observation, then released.

Ten minutes later four emergency calls came in within seconds of each other. A

house was struck by lightening on Horseshoe Ridge Road in Sandy Hook; a tree

fell in front of Hawley School, knocking out power in the center of town; a

fire alarm was ringing at American Wire on Church Hill Road; and a serious

electrical problem had developed at the high school. Water leaking through a

section of the high school roof shorted out the electrical switches in the

transformer vault room and electrified the building.

`Electrified'

"People in the building could see electricity jumping from beam to beam," said

Bill Halstead, chief of the Sandy Hook Volunteer Fire & Rescue Department and

an assistant fire marshal.

Chief Halstead said most of the construction crews had left for the day but

several workmen on the night shift for the electrical contractor and some of

the high school maintenance staff were in the building at the time. There were

no injuries.

"This could have been serious," Chief Halstead said. "Anything you'd touch

would give you a shock, and you could possibly get electrocuted. If the

building hadn't been gutted [for renovations], there's a good chance there

would have been a fire."

Chief Halstead said his department had "28 firefighters running to ten related

calls" during the height of the storm.

Margo Jackson-Douglas, a spokesperson for Northeast Utilities, said more than

1,000 homes lost power in scattered outages throughout town during the storm.

When lightening struck a tree in front of Hawley School, power went out in

buildings along Church Hill Road and Queen Street and in nearby homes,

affecting a total of 236 customers. Power was restored about two hours later.

Ms Jackson-Douglas said 329 customers lost power in the area around Bennetts

Bridge Road, 314 around Meadowbrook, 662 around Boggs Hill Road, 127 near

South Main Street, 46 on Jeremiah and 43 around Great Quarter Road. Smaller

outages also were reported around town.

"This was definitely the most dramatic evening we've had in the dispatch

center in terms of emergency calls since 1987," Jim Crouch said. "We've had

more calls at times, but those have been in situations that involved pumping

details, not emergencies."

"[Dispatcher] Carol Mayhew did an unbelievable job," Mr Crouch said. "She

handled all the calls for an hour on her own before I came in, and dispatcher

Danielle Borges joined us about 15 minutes later."