Firefighters, Volunteers From Eight Departments Battle Blazes Monday

No one was hurt, although nearly 50 firefighters and other volunteers spent more than six hours Monday afternoon and night first battling an acre-wide brush fire for two hours and then a fully involved building blaze the minute the first fire had been put out.

Then, the laborious job of making sure every last cinder had been extinguished began, and once the fire was deemed suspicious, there was another four to five hours of work until nearly dawn making sure every "t" was crossed and "i" was dotted to ensure a thorough investigation was performed.

“First 40 volunteers are in a remote location behind Saint Bernard’s (fighting) a brush fire for two hours and then we get a call for an automatic fire alarm,” Fire Marshal Raymond Occhialini said, laying out the timeline.

On Monday, two fires brought out the best in scores of volunteers from no less than eight, yes, eight, fire companies — Montville, Mohegan, Oakdale, Chesterfield, Bozrah, Gardner Lake, East Great Plain and Salem.

“We had 15-year-old cadets and 70-year-old men out there working,” Occhialini said.

At the brush fire, 25,000 gallons of water were needed to extinguish the blaze; “Thank God for the hydrants on Route 32,” Occhialini said.

And when the Oakdale assistant chief and captain arrive – within 3 minutes of the call, Occhialini said — at the structure fire in Old Colchester Road, they found a fully involved blaze.

“It took 30 minutes to get fire knocked down and then hit the hot spots to make sure. They were there until after 10 at night,” Occhialini said. “They are just really dedicated people.”

So if you see a firefighter today, hug him or her for all of us!