Mattatuck State Forest, Plymouth, CT
As reported in this post on CTFire-Ems.com:
Plymouth 4/12/10
The DEP has been fighting a forest fire in a section of the Mattatuck State Forest all day today. It is located north of Greystone Rd. and east of Todd Hollow Rd. The fire was actually discovered late Sunday night, but because of darkness, access issues, and rough terrain, it was decided to wait until daylight before sending crews in. Access to the area was by foot only. This will most likely be the largest fire yet in CT this season. It looks to be around 100 acers so far. There was intense fire activity in the afternoon with wind gusts carrying the fire over several fire lines and some 10′-15′ flame heights.
And a later update:
DEP had a line around the fire and was out of the woods by nightfall last night, so there wasn’t a need to activate the Wildfire Crew. Though there was talk on Monday afternoon of bringing in a helicopter and fire crew if we couldn’t get it. It dosent show it on the google map, but Todd Hollow Rd runs south all the way down to the Train Tracks near Greystone Rd. So that was our line to the west, and the tracks were eastern line. A hand line was cut over the top from Greystone to Todd Hollow through heavy mountain laurel at some spots 5″-6″ in diameter. The DEP had 16 firefighters on scene Monday Using 3 saws and 4 leaf blowers and hand tools. There were about 10people on scene today checking the line (it held) and burning out a small section near Todd Hollow Rd. So far it looks to be around 140 acers. Will post some pics later
You can see the extensive, low green of the Mountain Laurel thicket described above in the aerial photo from Google Maps. I kind of like this winter time images better then summer ones for looking at wildfire locations.
Judging from the flat ground, and the aerial photo, I’d assume the first picture was taken in the flats by Todd Hollow Road. That is a decent size grove of fairly big white pines. Those are generally found in hollows — first because they’re protected against high winds, and second because of the moisture available by the streams.
The forecast for Sunday & Monday called for winds out of the north and northwest, which would’ve had them blowing down that hollow, while the fire naturally would want to burn uphill. Along with a difficult to access location, very understandable the size this grew too!
This is a different section of the forest, actually quite a bit of distance as well as a river and Route 8, from my hike back in 2008 that is in this photo essay.
From the Waterbury Republican American on 4/14:
One of the larger brush fires in Terryville Fire Chief Mark Sekorski’s memory is out after burning 137 acres in Mattatuck State Forest since Sunday.
The fire, in a remote area just feet off the “blue trail” hiking trail, “is on the top scale as far as brush fires go,” Sekorski said. About 25 Terryville firefighters and 23 state park rangers responded to the fire Sunday after a 7:58 p.m. call, but found it too dark to do anything in the steep, rough terrain. The closest homes, off Greystone Road, were in no real danger, Sekorski said. The wind was on their side, blowing away from the homes.
The same winds brought the smoky smell of dried, burning brush a few miles south, into downtown Waterbury. Several residents there called the fire department concerned, police said Monday.
The cause of the fire is still under investigation.
It is my understanding from non-media accounts that the first containment line being constructed through the mountain laurel along the north side of the fire was over run, with the (second hand) report that one DEP employee stated it was the first time in 20 years he has had to run for safety on a fire in Connecticut.
