Remote Fire
Called Suspicious
By Sandy Vondrasek Cooch

Firefighters from six area departments spent a good chunk of their Saturday fighting a stubborn, and somewhat suspicious, fire in a monster pile of logs in a remote section of Granville, west of Route 12A.

This week, Randolph Village Fire Chief Jay Collette said he and Granville Fire Chief Kevin Bagley believe the fire, off Braintree Mountain Road in an area of East Granville known as Jonesville, had probably been burning for a day or two before it was spotted by passers-by.

What was burning- and remained smoldering early this week- was an extraordinarily large pile of branches and logs- about 200 feet long and 30-50 feet deep- that Collette believes might have been sitting there since the ice storm of 1998.

Collette doesn't think the fire was started by lightning, nor does he believe that spontaneous combustion was the cause.

The way the pile burned was "strange," he added.

"It was, in my opinion, a set fire," Collette said. "This did not start to burn on its own."

However, he and Bagley are, at this point, calling it a fire of "undetermined" cause, and not labeling it arson, Collette said.

Collette said he first got a call about the fire- which was about 3.5 miles up the Class 4 Braintree Mountain Road- at 8 a.m. on Saturday. After determining that the fire was in Granville, he contacted Chief Bagley.

There was some uncertainty about the situation, as Bagley knew a burn permit had been issued for somewhere in the area, but the town's fire warden was on vacation. The chiefs decided not to take action unless further reports were made.

Nothing more was heard until 1 p.m., when Randolph Center Fire Chief Al Floyd called Collette to say that he was getting calls about the fire.

The two men took an inspection ride, finding the impressive fire, with two rows of material involved.

"It was burning in pretty good shape when we got there," Collette said.

The first pile of what had likely been limb wood was already reduced to an enormous pile of coals, while a pile of log lengths behind it was still blazing in areas.

The pile abutted onto forest land, and the big question was whether to let the mass continue to burn, or put it out.

"If you leave it and nothing happens everyone is happy, and if you leave it and something happens no one is happy," Collette said of the situation.

Collette consulted with Chief Bagley, and they made the tough decision, at about 3:30 p.m., to mobilize their departments.

The next six hours were tough ones for responding firefighters and their equipment. The three Randolph departments, plus Granville, Hancock, and Roxbury responded.

There was no water on site, so tankers had to pick their way up and down the dirt road, the lower portion of which was in rough shape, due to erosion by the heavy rains in recent weeks. Down on Route 12A, firefighters had to use a portable pump, because the tankers could not get close enough to the stream off the highway to use their more efficient pumps.

This week, Collette estimated that 25,000 gallons of water were hauled up the mountain and dumped on the huge fire.

At the site, the biggest problem was getting at the hot spots, some deep in the pile and even underground. Collette said a backhoe was brought to the site, "to paw through it and let the guys get in it where it was burning."

It was a hot day, and even with their lighter-weight "wildland fire gear" and plenty of water, dehydration was a concern.

"It was a protracted affair," Collette commented. White River Valley Ambulance stood by, in case of health problems. No one was hurt, happily, and firefighters cleared the scene just before 10 p.m., Collette said.

"The fire will smolder for a while, but basically it's out," Collette said Tuesday. "I don't believe there is any opportunity for it to spread."

This week, Collette noted that witnesses have confirmed that the pile of wood was not burning on Thursday, July 26. He urged anyone with information about the fire to call him at 728-9032.

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