Plymouth FD Battles Dual Wild Fires

PLYMOUTH, N.H. – The Plymouth Fire Department battled and contained two wildfires in the area on April 19th. Over twenty acres of forest and field were destroyed before the fires were stopped.At 2:51 p.m. the Plymouth Fire Department received the first call. Nine minutes later they arrived at Chaison Road, just north of the Tenny Mountain Highway, where a quarter acre brushfire was rapidly spreading out of control.Units soon responded from Ashland, Campton-Thornton, Waterville Valley, Rumney, Sanbornton, and Tilton-Northfield fire departments to aid in fire coverage. The town of Bristol provided an EMS unit.The quarter-acre wildfire grew to twenty acres. PFD Lt. John P. Olmstead attributed the rapid growth to the low humidity and high winds. “This time of year is high hazard,” he said.Before firefighters could surround and contain the fire, it spread from one field into a grove of trees, and then into another field. Eventually firefighters got around the fire with hose lines attached to a portable pump placed in a pond in a nearby field. Although there were natural barriers of a swampland and a snowmobile trail, Olmstead speculated that a nearby house might have been damaged if they hadn’t discovered the nearby pond.”It could have got to the house if not for the resource of water,” said Olmstead.It took a total of two and a half hours to gain control of the blaze. Olmstead, in his eighteen years at the Plymouth Fire Department, said this was the largest brushfire he’s ever seen. “Over the years there’s been two or three acre fires, but nothing like that.” The second fire was called in at 8:11p.m. Seven minutes later three engines, one ladder, and an ambulance arrived at a house off of Fairgrounds Road, again just north of Tenney Mountain Highway. The fire was started when ashes fell out of an outdoor wood fire sauna.About the condition of the fire on arrival, Lt. Olmstead said, “It was really minor.” About five hundred square feet of grass and leaves were on fire, taking the responding units less than a half an hour to put it out. The building containing the wood fire sauna had temporarily caught fire, but was mostly put out with a garden hose before the Plymouth Fire Department arrived on the scene.Lieutenant Olmstead would like to remind students to be careful this time of year, when the majority of wildfires happen in the area. “You gotta have a permit for any outside fire,” said Olmstead, “and it’s not hard to get one.” In order to get a permit, one needs written permission from their landlord and bring it to the fire department. They will decide whether it is safe or not. Olmstead would also like people to remember about the expensive penalty issued for a permit-less fire.