Third Alarm Fire on Woodstock Castle Property Injures 1 Firefighter
Woodstock, Conn. — Area Firefighters were forced to overcome numerous obstacles as a home, situated on the Woodstock Castle property, was…
Woodstock, Conn. (2/23/23)— Area Firefighters were forced to overcome numerous obstacles as a home, situated on the Woodstock Castle property, was engulfed in flames sending one firefighter to the hospital.
At approximately 4:37 pm on Wednesday, February 22nd, 2023, the Muddy Brook Fire Department, along with numerous mutual aid departments, was dispatched to 450 Brickyard Rd for a reported roof fire. As the first arriving fire officer approached the scene, they reported a large header (column of black smoke) and ordered an immediate second alarm assignment.
According to Woodstock’s Fire Marshal Dick Baron, on arrival, the structure was heavily involved with fire showing from at least three sides of the building.
A live power line, that connected the building to the power grid, was down in the driveway blocking the primary access to the residence. This forced crews to stretch a hose line over a rock wall, leading to a Quinebaug firefighter falling and being subsequently transported to the hospital with a non-life-threatening ankle injury. Due to the downed power line’s location, crews could not safely attack the fire on the A/D (front and left) sides of the building until Eversource arrived and secured the power.
Two large propane tanks stood near the rear of the home and were the main focus of the first hose line deployed. Protecting these tanks used the majority of the water from the first trucks on the scene.
Fire Marshal Baron went on to speak about challenges that arose when securing a water supply. An old dry hydrant (a pre-staged pipe for fire apparatus to suction water through) across from the scene was initially utilized but ended up clogging and forced crews to move to a backup water supply drafting from a nearby pond. This water supply required units to drop approximately 800' of 5" hose in order to connect the draft truck to an engine on the fire scene. Trucks were also able to utilize a dry hydrant at the castle and access the scene from the rear of the fire building. Additionally, a third alarm for tankers was struck to support tanker shuttle operations supplementing the first two water supply methods.
Fire Marshal Baron finished by saying “In this area, where you don’t have hydrants, when we have a large two and half-story old farmhouse well involved, it’s going to tax everything you’ve got. We have a lot of mutual aid agreements between Woodstock, Thompson, Dudley, Southbridge, and Webster. We all work very well together and when we get something like this, we all come together and do the job.”
The State Fire Marshall was requested to assist in the investigation.
Agencies who responded, or were dispatched, included the Muddy Brook Fire Department , Bungay Fire Brigade , Woodstock Vol Fire Assoc. Sta 76 , Eastford Independent Fire Co. #1 , Putnam Fire Department , East Putnam Fire Department , Community Fire Company , Quinebaug Vol FD , West Thompson Fire Department , Webster Fire / Rescue Massachusetts ,Dudley Fire Department , Southbridge Fire Department , Pomfret Fire Department, Union Volunteer Fire Department , Dayville Fire Company Rehab Unit, Connecticut State Fire Marshall’s Office, and Eversource CT
