Oxford

Crews work to extinguish brush fire in Oxford

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Crews are keeping an eye on multiple brush fires in the state, including one at Seymour Reservoir Number 4 in the Naugatuck State Forest.

Crews are keeping an eye out on multiple brush fires in the state, including one at Seymour Reservoir #4 in the Naugatuck State Forest.

"We’ve been pumping water on it all afternoon,” said Oxford Fire Chief Scott Pelletier.

He says they arrived around 1 in the morning, left around 6:30 in the morning, and returned shortly after, when the fire started again.

As the day continued, their crew, Beacon Falls Fire, and the Department of Energy and Environmental protection were working on digging up hot spots.

“With high winds coming out later tonight and tomorrow that will find hot spots - that will cause fire to spread if we don’t get to them,” said Pelletier.

He says the fire is roughly 8 to 10 acres but have yet to do an official mapping.

The chief says he will be investigating the cause of the fire in the next day or so.

"We have several of these fires throughout the year here but not with these conditions,” said Pelletier.

As of last night, DEEP was watching 9 brush fires of different scales. The biggest is the Hawthorne Fire, spanning roughly one hundred acres.

As of this afternoon, Governor Ned Lamont declared a state of emergency due to critical fire weather conditions.

People in Connecticut are encouraged to keep all flammable items away from leaves and twigs, have firefighting tools handy, and to never leave a fire unattended.

“The recommendation is to not have fire whatsoever. The condition is that bad. So - lighting a campfire, going out thinking you're going to burn leaves, which you're not supposed to do in the state of Connecticut, or burn brush - please don't do it,” said Pelletier.

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