A busy year for the Milton Fire Department

By NATHAN LAMB | Milton Independent Staff Writer
mireporter@mac.com

Charred stumps were all that was left the day after the Riel family home on James Dr. was destroyed by fire in August.

2007 was a busy year for the Milton Fire Department. Overall, fire Chief Don Turner estimated the department is on pace to answer just under 200 calls by year’s end.

“Our calls are up just a little bit from what they’ve been in the past,” he said. “As the population continues to grow, I think our calls will continue to rise.”
Those calls covered everything from funny smells to car accidents; basically anything where public safety is involved and it doesn’t call for police or an ambulance, said Turner.

However, there were several major incidents, and the Memorial Day fire in Birchwood Manor was on that short list.

The fast-moving afternoon blaze completely destroyed the trailer that was home of Annette Mott-Newell and her three children. The family was away when the fire happened and escaped harm, but the family’s five dogs perished in the blaze.

The fire was determined to have originated from a gas stove in the trailer.

Efforts to follow-up with Mott-Newell in December were unsuccessful, but her family has established a new home in Birchwood and is doing well.

The fire also led to a follow-up meeting with neighbors who were concerned about the effectiveness of fire hydrants within Birchwood Manor.

Insufficient water pressure in hydrants within the park required firefighters to use alternate hookups on the perimeter of the trailer park.

Turner said the issue was one of unclear markings on the park’s five hydrants: Two of the five are high-pressure models that can service fire hoses, while the other three are low-pressure models that are only suitable for filling the tanker trucks.

All of the hydrants are owned and operated by the park, but the low pressure models should have been painted black to eliminate any confusion, said Turner.

Turner said the hydrants have since been marked, and that the incident has led to closer cooperation between the park owner and town to improve water flows at hydrants within the park.

“It’s been an open dialogue,” he said.

Later in the year, an Aug. 16 freak lightening strike touched-off a blaze that gutted much of the Lombard family’s lakeside summer home on Misty Bay Road. The fire began while the family was out, but Bob Lombard—a 44-year veteran with the local fire department—responded to the fire alarm immediately, thinking it was someone else’s home.

Afterwards, Bob and wife Mary Lou considered themselves lucky to be away when the fire happened and were determined to rebuild in time for at least part of next summer.

The lightening strike was part of a brief—but intense—summer storm that knocked down a barn at the Sanderson farm, felled trees around town, and left 18,000 homes across the region without power.

About one month later, the Reil home on James Drive was leveled by a fast moving structure fire the morning of Sept. 22.

The fire, which was officially ruled an accident, broke out at approximately 5:19 a.m., and the entire family was evacuated by the time authorities arrived.

There was also a bit of impromptu heroism from the lady of the house: Once outside, Joni Reil noticed the family puppy wasn’t accounted for and ran back into the house to find it; she found it in an upstairs bedroom, and said first floor was completely ablaze when she came back down with the dog. Minor injuries were suffered by Joni and her son earlier that night when they tried to battle the blaze.

Overall, Turner said the handful of major fires fell within Milton’s average of three to five such incidents per year. In the big picture, he said the Milton Fire Department has been fortunate to attract and retain sufficient numbers to serve the town. While volunteer departments across the state are having increasing trouble filling rosters, Turner cited the Department’s cadet program—which attracts volunteers early—as a big part of that recruiting success.

“We are fortunate in Milton that we’re continuing to get good numbers,” he said. “We’re in pretty good shape here in Milton.”