Putting Out the Flames: Ridgefield’s Baseball Field Fire – Case Closed

Saturday April 6, 2019 there was a fire on Governor Park baseball field in Ridgefield, CT.

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The fire was set intentionally to dry the wet field and prepare it for play but it got a little out of control. What was worse than the field's condition was the media firestorm ignited by videos like this one, that were shared all over social platforms like Youtube

CREDIT: The native video was originally posted to Twitter by @AmityNorton. From what I can gather, that source video has been deleted. 

In the aftermath, the community found itself under intense pressure with people all over the country demanding answers. The fire was discussed in NYC on WFAN, the incident was reported on by Sports Illustrated, it was everywhere.

Once the national news media moved on, I was not ready. The problem for me is that there was never any personal recognition for who did it. I didn't think it was a huge mistake but it was a mistake and I like people to say "my bad."

For over 4 years I beat this drum and the longer it went on, the funnier it was to me. We referenced the fire every time Ridgefield was mentioned. It got to the point that I'd hoped there would never be an official explanation on my radio show (I-95 Morning Show).

But the answer was inevitable, it was time to put it to bed. The person that closed the book was Rudy Marconi, the longtime First Selectman of Ridgefield who joined the I-95 Morning Show on Wednesday (12/06/23).

Lou: On April 6, 2019, there was a fire on a baseball field in Ridgefield and I've been yapping about it ever since. It just sort of went away and no one ever heard who was behind it. My contention has always been, somebody raises their hand and says I made a mistake and we all go on with our lives. What ever happened with that?

Marconi: "I don't remember." 

Ethan: Thanks Rudy, I love it!

Marconi: "What happened? A group of coaches, men, volunteers they didn't reinvent the wheel on this, prior to environmental concerns and consciousness that [fire] was used in the past as a way of preparing a field to be able to play after rain. Burn it off! One of the gentlemen felt why don't we just burn it off? We used to do that years ago, they ran down, got the gas cans, soaked the infield and torched it. People are in the stands like amazed, bewildered like oh my God, my son can't go play out there, look at it. The Fire Department got a call, DEEP came in and the rest is incredible. But how we resolved it? We're lucky here in Ridgefield, we're very fortunate Ridgefield has become a relatively affluent community. We had an individual call my office and said look, the guys who did that, they didn't mean to cause an environmental catastrophe which it isn't but it could have been much worse than what it was. They don't have the money to pay for this and on the other side of that argument you have people demanding that they be placed in the stocks in front of Town Hall, they were crazy. So, what we did, I asked one of the managers to get the word out that they should hire an attorney because this could have some serious ramifications, which they did and the attorney made an offer. The names were under attorney/client privilege information, that amount of money was received and our angel paid for the balance of cleanup."

Lou: We didn't think anyone should get in trouble either, it's an innocent mistake. I heard about it on WFAN in New York City, an Atlanta Paper, it was everywhere. 

Marconi: "It was like wildfire!?" 

I never wanted, or expected anyone to face any kind of trouble. I just don't like any municipality, getting let off the hook for keeping secrets. I don't know what I expected, it was never in anyone's best interest to run to me and give me a name. We didn't get a name from Rudy Marconi or anyone else working in an official capacity and I guess that is going to have to be OK.

It is time for me to move on and consider this case, closed.

Unless........

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The baseball field fire was not even why we spoke to Marconi. His appearance on the I-95 Morning Show was mainly about the gas-powered leaf blower debate in Ridgefield. Listen to the entire interview below for more on that, and how Marconi believes the town will need to adjust it's practices to account for social media.

Part 1 

Part 2