The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
EMERGENCY ACCESS
South Fire’s off-roaders made possible through local corporate donations
MIDDLETOWN >> The drowning of a 26-year-old Portland man in an isolated quarry in the woods off Bow Lane two years ago triggered a search for funding to allow South District Fire to buy off-road equipment that gives first responders a fighting chance at trying to save lives and extinguish fast-spreading brush fires.
Two weeks ago, the department acquired a two-man $6,800 Polaris Sportsman quad to complement the Polaris Ranger 6-by-6 utility task vehicle and trailer to transport the equipment it bought last April after several local corporations
came through with the necessary funding, according to Fire Chief Robert Ross.
In August 2015, a man jumped 30 feet into a 30-foot-deep quarry deep in the woods. Dive teams pulled him from the water an hour and 10 minutes after the man’s friend called 911, but it was too late, officials said. The victim died from his injuries.
Because of the location, it took three fire departments — Middletown, South Fire and Portland Fire — and their dive teams, plus ropes and ladders to execute the high-angle rescue.
“There were many quarries that were left behind over there that (Connecticut Valley Hospital) has at the end of Bow Lane. You had to hike in quite a way and there were three or four young people swimming in there,” said Capt. Mike Howley. “(It was difficult) not only to get the equipment in, but then we had to get divers down into the quarry to search for the victim, get him up and out and then bring everything out.”
Once that happened, firefighters knew they no longer could rely on Middlefield and Westfield volunteer fire and even the one at the city station downtown — they wanted a much better response time. Before this quad equipment purchase, it could be 30 minutes or more before those crews could get to a scene — especially a secluded one. Now, they can get emergency workers to remote areas for brush fires or injured or lost people within 20 minutes.
“That incident really put the cap on it, where ‘we’ve really got to get something,’” Howley said. “That was the final straw.”
The goal, Ross said, was to have a trailer and “robust” set of apparatus to complement what the department already uses to respond to emergencies in these areas. The project cost, including equipment, was $50,000.
Ross secured corporate donations of $48,582, which allowed South Fire to complete its off-road access vehicles project. The funding was significant — Kleen Energy gave $14,500, NRG $2,450; Pratt & Whitney $15,000; and Eversource wrote a check for $16,332.
Each of these companies own property in the Maromas part of town — between River Road and the Connecticut River — and between that and land by Middlesex Community College and the reservoir, Ross figured he’d at least pitch the idea. So he appealed to Kleen Energy president Bill Corvo first.
The other companies soon followed with donations of their own, he said.
South Fire is a tax district that’s entirely separate from the city’s three stations and includes 15,000 taxpayers. Ross said the department prides itself on the goal of keeping its mill rate from rising, and if it must, minimally — and replacing equipment with money from its capital fund, avoiding the need to bond out for items.
“We tried over the years to obtain multiple grants but never got them,” Howley explained. “A lot of times we’re on Pratt & Whitney’s property, Northeast Utilities’ property, Kleen Energy, so they stepped up and they all kicked in and helped come up with this whole package of the ATV and the trailer.”
The chief knew getting to emergencies was often a matter of life or death.
“The goal was to have the a trailer with a robust set of equipment depending on where we’re going and the complexity of what we had to deal with,” Ross said. “We would have the tools ready to go into the woods to move manpower, move injured people, put out brush fires, do searches … (now,) it’s a matter of hooking the trailer up and going where we think the emergency is going to be.”
And these woodlands are deep and dense, making it impossible in sections for firefighters to get gear where it’s vitally needed.
“People really don’t have an appreciation for the vastness of that area,” Ross said. “There’s not a lot out there and with people saying they’re seeing bears or bobcats, you can understand why because it really is (expansive).”
But the protection of open spaces in Middletown — something the city prides itself on — comes with a caveat.
“The only way in is on the power line roads,” Ross said, pointing to a Google Earth map on his computer screen. “This is kind of where civilization ends.”
The problem arises when individuals, often young people, go four-wheeling illegally and get into trouble, he said.
“Our ability to rapidly get in and give them the care that they need and get them extricated and get out — it’s a real challenge. This equipment closes that gap,” Ross explained.
Now, according to Howley, crews are training on a course out on River Road, watching videos, talking about protective clothing, and how they’ll be deploying the ATVs. The smaller one-man vehicle carries EMS equipment and the larger one, which fits two people, has room for a water pump and hose and is capable of carrying a stretcher on top.
And there is no dearth of calls for which the ATVs are essential elements on the fire line. Last year, Howley said, “we had a fire in Maromas and a lady on horseback reported a fire but she forgot where she saw it. It wasn’t a big blazing fire where you could say, ‘OK, here’s the smoke, we know where it is.’ There was nothing. We were wondering, ‘did she really see a fire? What are we doing?’”
Since the woman didn’t have a cellphone with her, she went home to call 911.
“It was about an hour by the time we found it and it was really burning, staying low, and it was up in back of the Kleen Energy. We were up there for probably six or seven hours,” Howley said.
Officials brought in Portland and Westfield Volunteer fire units for mutual aid.
“But it was something you couldn’t see until you got up in there,” he added.
Kids riding dirt bikes, which can set off sparks, or hikers and others on foot dropping something like a cigarette, or even lightning strikes are often the cause, the captain said.
“It may sit there for a while before it gets going. It could be days and then all of a sudden, you get a nice breeze and it picks up. Then you’ve got a fire,” Howley said.
The need for equipment is constant. The station just put in for a $395,000 FEMA grant to replace apparatus that is 16 years old, he said. And it shouldn’t be purchased used, which means costs are significant.
“A lot of that is starting to age out,” Howley explained. “You have to do it so you might as well try for grants. And if we don’t get the grants, then we have to start putting in the line items.
“It’s any department’s obligation to go after these grants. If you’re not doing it, you’re not doing something right for your community, because if money’s out there, you should be going for it,” Howley said.