New Fairfield Brush Fire Takes Out 28 Acres of State Forest

A brush fire that spanned 28 acres of rough national forest in New Fairfield was brought under control yesterday.

The fire was initially seen from the sky by the Civil Air Patrol returning from a routine flight on Saturday, who immediately called it in, according to the News-Times. The smoke at the time was as high as 3,000 feet.

The fire was in the Pootatuck State Forest off Beaver Bog Road in New Fairfield and was originally spotted in a remote rocky uninhabited section of the forest. There were 35 fire companies from Fairfield and Litchfield counties in Connecticut and Putnam County in New York called to help fight the fire.

The Hartford Courant said that New Fairfield Volunteer Fire Dept. Chief, Bruce Taylor said, "Access is difficult, there are no roads. We'd had to open trails up with our chain saws."

The scene has been turned over to the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection who informed the Hartford Courant that the fire was burning underground and was resurfacing due to burning tree roots.

New Fairfield First Selectman, Susan Chapman said that the fire had split into two separate fires, but was never close enough to hurt anybody. I have a couple of friends who live on Beaver Bog Road in New Fairfield who told me that smoke and ash had been falling in their yards most of Sunday.

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