By Nancy Bean Foster
The Union Leader
MILFORD, N.H. — Three local juveniles will face a judge for allegedly setting a five-alarm brush fire on Monday that burned three densely wooded acres in Milford.
Milford Police Chief Frederick Douglas said yesterday afternoon that three 14-year-olds from the surrounding area would face charges in connection with the brush fire. Though Douglas wouldn’t release any details, including how the fire was started or the specific nature of the charges, he said the investigation uncovered enough evidence to tie the juveniles to the incident.
Douglas said that because of their age, the three weren’t arrested, but their parents would receive summonses to appear in court.
Around 5:30 p.m. on Monday, firefighters from more than a dozen local communities responded to the brush fire, accessible along trails and logging roads at the end of Summer Street in Milford.
At the peak of the fire, 14 fire departments and more than 80 firefighters responded to the blaze, the cause of which is still under investigation, said Milford Fire Chief Frank Fraitzl.
Just moments before the call came in about the Summer Street fire, crews were dispatched to fight a brush fire on North River Road, Fraitzl said, so the response from other local departments was key to getting the fire under control.
The challenges of fighting the Summer Street fire had mostly to do with the lack of water and the steep terrain, Fraitzl said.
Firefighters had to lug hoses nearly 2,000 feet from the nearest hydrant up a steep, rutted trail to get to the scene of the fire, and more hoses drew water from a quarry located about the same distance away.
With winds blowing more than 20 mph Monday, the fire quickly chewed through more than three acres of thick woodland, eating up underbrush and charring mature trees.
By midnight on Monday, firefighters had contained the fire, but all day yesterday they were back on scene trying to fight a fire they couldn’t see: the one burning underground.
According to Special Deputy Forest Fire Warden Rick Todd, one of around a dozen state firefighters who responded, the fire was burning as deep as 18 inches underground.
“Because it’s been so dry, this fire has an abnormally deep burn depth for this early in the summer,” Todd said.
Peat, decomposing leaves, and other vegetation that lines the forest floor is normally damp at this time of year, and usually doesn’t get really dry until August or September. But because of the lack of steady rain and the rash of extremely hot days, the forest floor has become a carpet of kindling.
“Every so often, a spot will get just enough air to reignite,” said Fraitzl.
Across the three acres burned in the fire, hot spots have been smoldering underground. Firefighters have to find the spots, dig them out, and soak them with water.
The problem is, Todd said, that often the fire gets into the root systems of the trees, and can travel through those systems, sparking fires 20 feet away from where they originated.
Fraitzl said he hopes to have the fire “mopped up” by today, but expects firefighters will be monitoring the woods above Summer Street regularly in the coming days to ensure no new fires start.
In the meantime, he is advising that people walking in the woods be especially careful about extinguishing cigarettes or other smoking materials, and not to start any outdoor fires without a permit.
“Conditions are very dry,” he said. “There’s been a lack of steady rain, and the rain we have had hasn’t been enough to soak in. Fire danger is high.”
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