15 April 2008<br/>
Approx. 1600 hours<br/>
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Bungay Fire Brigade in Woodstock, CT was toned out for a "field fire" -- which ended up being a beaver meadow.  Damn rodents.  That explained the fire though, since all the mowed fields have already greened up and wouldn't have much of a fire now.  (Abandoned fields are still pretty dry with a lot of tall, dead grass).<br/>
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Fire originated by the road, and was driven by a steady, moderate wind.  Fire danger was high, but conditions by no means were extreme.<br/>
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First arriving Bungay officer (by POV) established command and soon also requested Muddy Brook and Woodstock for mutual aid based on the fire behavior being observed.<br/>
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Eventually Eastford, Union, and Southbridge, MA would be involved.<br/>
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Connecticut DEP Forestry was also requested, along with the CSP air wing to provide an aerial size up the fire -- as the State Police helicopter is out for an overhaul, a fixed wing plane was dispatched but eventually cancelled as a fire line got put around the fire.<br/>
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Fire was the meadow to the right of the arrow here.  As you can see, anything to the north (B) side means crossing swamp.<br/>
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=250+Child+Road,+Woodstock&jsv=107&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=52.637906,81.914062&ie=UTF8&ll=41.98342,-72.048855&spn=0.012186,0.019999&t=h&z=16<br/>
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<img src="http://www.d90.us/fire/250_Child_Road_Bungay_15_April_08/P4150004_small.jpg" /><br/>
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<img src="http://www.d90.us/fire/250_Child_Road_Bungay_15_April_08/P4150010_small.jpg" /><br/>
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Oh yeah, knee deep in muck.  Major suck fest.<br/>
<img src="http://www.d90.us/fire/250_Child_Road_Bungay_15_April_08/P4150011_small.jpg" /><br/>
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It is more then a pet peeve of mine the latest child labor laws for firefighting in Connecticut -- they can't fight "woods" fires, but "grass" fires are A-OK.  This is grass.  This is safer then forest floor duff?  That one part of the regulations had to be written by guys who don't see many outside fires.  (A better proscription would be no firefighting in heavy brush you may become entangled in, in thick and/or tall flashy fuels like this, or anything other then mop-up on red flag days).<br/>
<img src="http://www.d90.us/fire/250_Child_Road_Bungay_15_April_08/P4150014_small.jpg" /><br/>
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I kind of felt bad for Southbridge...they ended up being sent to two or three different locations, before being told they really weren't needed after all.  At the time they had been requested though it sounded like Command was real nervous he'd have to open up a second front coming in from Brickyard Road (Side C).  I believe the crews coming in from the A/D corner where the ones who managed to hook the fire and cut it off before it became a serious situation.<br/>
<img src="http://www.d90.us/fire/250_Child_Road_Bungay_15_April_08/P4150017_small.jpg" /><br/>
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<img src="http://www.d90.us/fire/250_Child_Road_Bungay_15_April_08/P4150019_small.jpg" /><br/>
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The picture is kind of difficult to see -- there's smoke from the grass fire, but you could also see heavier smoke directly behind it rising from the woods where the fire hand jumped the brook and was getting into thicker stuff.<br/>
<img src="http://www.d90.us/fire/250_Child_Road_Bungay_15_April_08/P4150023_small.jpg" /><br/>
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Old root cellar across the road.<br/>
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It's not coincidental to find many old houses near beaver marshes, or their remains.  Early settlers would be able to let their cattle graze the marsh grasses that winter, and after extirpating the beavers and draining the marsh the rich muck was ideal for english grasses to be planted.<br/>
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What's happened over the last 30 or 40 years is the beavers have moved back and re-created the marshes.<br/>
<img src="http://www.d90.us/fire/250_Child_Road_Bungay_15_April_08/P4150025_small.jpg" /><br/>
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Engine 175 with a pony suction hooked up.<br/>
<img src="http://www.d90.us/fire/250_Child_Road_Bungay_15_April_08/P4150029_small.jpg" /><br/>
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<img src="http://www.d90.us/fire/250_Child_Road_Bungay_15_April_08/P4150030_small.jpg" /><br/>
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Hose 175, the other half of the dynamic duo.<br/>
<img src="http://www.d90.us/fire/250_Child_Road_Bungay_15_April_08/P4150033_small.jpg" /><br/>
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Union is the smallest town in Connecticut -- their population recently broke 600.<br/>
<img src="http://www.d90.us/fire/250_Child_Road_Bungay_15_April_08/P4150035_small.jpg" /><br/>
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Bungay Engine 177, Eastford ET-177, Woodstock ET-277(?)<br/>
<img src="http://www.d90.us/fire/250_Child_Road_Bungay_15_April_08/P4150037_small.jpg" /><br/>
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<img src="http://www.d90.us/fire/250_Child_Road_Bungay_15_April_08/P4150053_small.jpg" /><br/>
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Engine 177 is a rear mount pumper.  It was also designed to fit the limitations of their quaint but old station.<br/>
<img src="http://www.d90.us/fire/250_Child_Road_Bungay_15_April_08/P4150054_small.jpg" /><br/>
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3" leader line hand-jacked into the woods.  Double suck fest.<br/>
<img src="http://www.d90.us/fire/250_Child_Road_Bungay_15_April_08/P4150055_small.jpg" /><br/>
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One day, we'll all have wildland gear :)  This is a state guy talking with someone else while his boss was out walking the perimeter.<br/>
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I have seen pics from the 1960s of the state guys just wearing uniform clothes.  <br/>
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Late 1980s they still just wore plain work clothes.  Then I started to see yellow shirts, a year later green pants...and now they've progresed up to chest harnesses and web sets.<br/>
<img src="http://www.d90.us/fire/250_Child_Road_Bungay_15_April_08/P4150058_small.jpg" /><br/>
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The DEP District Fire Control Officer's buggy.  He was radio handle DEP-1 on the seen.<br/>
<img src="http://www.d90.us/fire/250_Child_Road_Bungay_15_April_08/P4150060_small.jpg" /><br/>
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There's messy.  Then there's the messy you have to work on...<br/>
(For purposes of full disclosure...never look in the cab of my pickup...)<br/>
<img src="http://www.d90.us/fire/250_Child_Road_Bungay_15_April_08/P4150061_small.jpg" /><br/>
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DEP-1 and the other guy talking it over -- there's a couple snags to be removed.  <br/>
<img src="http://www.d90.us/fire/250_Child_Road_Bungay_15_April_08/P4150067_small.jpg" /><br/>
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Chaps and all, damn this is scarey professional looking.  Another DEP truck.<br/>
<img src="http://www.d90.us/fire/250_Child_Road_Bungay_15_April_08/P4150070_small.jpg" /><br/>
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Pulling the line out of the south (D) side of the fire.<br/>
<img src="http://www.d90.us/fire/250_Child_Road_Bungay_15_April_08/P4150075_small.jpg" /><br/>
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DEP 5 ton coming out of Natchaug.  In 2001(?) CT DEP had a bunch of legal reforms passed by the state legislature at their request.  Those included removing incident command responsibilities from the DEP, and reforming the system from where DEP used to hire the volunteer firefighters directly to one where they pay the fire companies directly for men and equipment on larger fires like this.  It's not a lot of money, but it does help offset the expenses.  DEP has a variety of specialized tools they can bring in, from Bombardiers to Bulldozers to Bambi Buckets.  On multiple day incidents they'll also typically take over after day one and show up early the next morning with crews to police the fire lines to make sure there's no slop over and to extinguish any remaining snags and such.<br/>
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<img src="http://www.d90.us/fire/250_Child_Road_Bungay_15_April_08/P4150078_small.jpg" /><br/>
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<img src="http://www.d90.us/fire/250_Child_Road_Bungay_15_April_08/P4150080_small.jpg" /><br/>
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And this had nothing to do with the fire...just was on the memory card.  Hampton recently installed a new dry hydrant, and apparantly took a lot of civic pride in it:<br/>
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<img src="http://www.d90.us/fire/250_Child_Road_Bungay_15_April_08/P4130003_small.jpg" /><br/>
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Why Watermarks on some pictures?<br/>
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