Windham County Observer

Methods and Practices of Community Fire Company, Inc., Draws Criticism In Connection With Fire at Wilsonville.

Editor, The Observer,
Putnam, Conn.

Dear Sir:

Local people might be interested in knowing a few facts concerning a fire company known as The Community Fire Company, Inc., which was organized in February, 1938 to provide a section of the Town of Thompson with better fire protection. If the farce staged Friday, November 10, 1939 is a fair example of what we may expect from this company, it would be better to get the apparatus off the highway for safety reasons if for nothing else.

The fire occurred during the middle of the afternoon when help was available. After several minutes delay the fire apparatus arrived at the fire, the delay being caused by failure of equipment. When the apparatus arrived, it was connected to a well which was nearly dry. In the meantime the fire was making great headway. Let those in charge of operation of the company explain all the delay. The fire started at the end of a long ell and by all laws of averages, it should never have reached the main part of the house, if prompt and proper action had been taken. The insurance adjuster declared the property a total loss and we are told by accounts in newspapers that the loss was due to lack of water.

On several occasions officials and members of the company have been impressed with the fact that there is a waterhole at the Wilsonville schoolhouse, covering about six acres with water two to three feet deep. This water is much less than one thousand feet from the scene of the fire and the terrain is all down hill, a factor in favor of good pressure. Yet the company disregarded the water hole and started pumping from a well, nearly dry to begin with.

It should be said that the owner of the property takes his loss like a man and had nothing to say regarding results. The writer of this article assumes all responsibility for this article and statements it contains, desiring only to make a few points clear to hundreds of citizens of the town who have been asked to contribute to the company under the delusion that they would receive more adequate fire protection.

The Underwriters require that all precaution possible be taken. Yet here are a few practices popular with the Community Fire Company.

A twenty-four foot ladder comprises the equipment on their truck. Such a ladder is not sufficient to fight all fires and this was pointed out by the writer when equipment was purchased. It was claimed then that there were plenty of ladders downstairs in the fire house. What good will they do downstairs? A hand-drawn, steel-tired antique piece of equipment, of which they are a part, would be of no use in this community where it could not be drawn by hand.

Another practice considered important by the company is the taking of wet hose and drying of same in a tower of the Grosvenordale Company. This practice keeps five hundred feet of hose locked up at times in this tower and a fire call some night may find the apparatus at the scene without the amount of hose required by the Underwriters.

If the company is to be a community fire company, let's make it one. If not, let the president of the corporation or, perchance, the chief of the company put us right on this angle. The taxpayers money has already been invested in all three volunteer companies in the town of Thompson. It was taxpayers money that helped purchase the Community Fire Company's new, shiny truck. With the amount of money invested in this venture, we have a right to expect something more than an adjuster's report, "total loss."

Sincerely yours,
X. M. Ember