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Governor declares state of emergency for fire risk

Online Niel October 26, 2024

As the Connecticut National Guard continued to dump water on the Hawthorne fire in Berlin on Friday, Gov. Ned Lamont declared a state of emergency due to dry weather conditions and the threat of additional wildfires.

He also announced that the state will receive federal funds to help cover ongoing fire response costs. It is the first time Connecticut has been approved for federal fire response funds, according to Lamont.

“This is one of the most significant brush fires Connecticut has experienced in recent memory,” Lamont said in a statement.

The state of emergency will allow state and local officials tools to “monitor and contain potential fires” and respond to additional fires. Officials say dry conditions, plus a lack of rain in recent weeks, have allowed the fire to grow. About 50 personnel responded to the scene Friday, including help from New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Maine and Massachusetts, according to state environmental officials.

The state estimates the response to the Lamentation Mountain fire will exceed $330,000, determining eligibility for up to 75 percent reimbursement of municipal and state costs from a Federal Emergency Management Agency grant program.

“Thank you to FEMA and the Biden-Harris administration for their quick response to my request and their continued partnership with Connecticut to ensure we can support the resources we need to keep this area safe,” Lamont said.

Bill Turner, director of emergency management, was grateful for the effort.

“We know this is an expensive operation and this will be really helpful in allowing us to continue to call for additional mutual aid resources to help stabilize this incident,” Turner said. “So we thank the governor’s office for helping facilitate this request, FEMA Region One, as well as the U.S. Forest Service, which has to approve the request.”

Response interrupted by drones, civilians

Crews fighting the fire have encountered some challenges, as officials have reported that hikers, drones and ATVs near the fire are disrupting efforts.

“We had to ground our aircraft several times because of aircraft in our flight area. So there is that temporary flight restriction in place,” Berlin Fire Chief John Massirio said. “We’re asking pilots to respect that, drone operators to respect that.” The fire is contained on the northern side of the ridgeline, but there are concerns about the fire spreading to the southern edge.

“Every time we have a raid and we have to land an aircraft, the start time for an aircraft is 30 to 40 minutes. So, you know, we have four or five raids, we lose over two hours that we can drop water on the ground,” said Massiro. “It’s hindering our efforts to actually get this under control in a reasonable amount of time.”

(From left) Brianna DeKorte of Middletown, Samantha Clark of Bristol and Dustin Holroyd of Bristol watch as a helicopter takes water from Silver Lake to escape the Lamentation Mountain fire. DeKorte said, “You see it in the California news and stuff like that, not literally in your own backyard.” Meriden, Connecticut on October 25, 2004. Credit: Mark Mirko Connecticut public

Smaller fires in CT

Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection officials said some aerial resources could be diverted from Berlin to tackle other fires in the state, including one in Oxford, where fallen leaves and dry conditions have created more opportunities for wildfires to spread. brushes .

Tom Trask, a forest protection supervisor, said there were several other fires in Connecticut that were no larger than 10 acres Friday morning, but the Oxford fire was experiencing moderate spread.

“We are also working with local resources in Rhode Island, Massachusetts to meet our need for more apparatus such as hoses, nozzles and pumps. All the resources are coming together appropriately,” Trask said. “We are doing everything we can to get this fire under control.”

For now, federal funding will only go toward the Berlin fire response, according to Turner, the emergency management director.

“We were informed last night that (FEMA funding) was approved for Connecticut specific to this incident,” Turner said. “We understand there are other fires going on, but the approval was specific to the Hawthorne fire.”

The increased fire risk could continue

The state’s lack of significant rainfall after August rains is contributing to the increased fire danger, according to Connecticut Public Service Meteorologist Garett Argianas.

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