Fire Consumed 130 Acres of Brush in the Hopyard

Firefighters are no longer on the ground, but the lasting effects of the fire that burned for days in k in East Haddam can still be seen. Charred remains of dying hemlocks that added fuel to the fire litter the forest floor alongside Jones Hill Road. The fire that leapt from treetop to treetop and impacted 130 acres of the Hopyard is finally at rest.

“All is quiet today,” said Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection State Forester Christopher Martin.

“There’s a little bit of smoke and some smoldering, but the fire is out … we don’t anticipate anything starting up again.”

According to Martin, the DEEP will continue to be on location to monitor the smoldering piles, but the organization that took over the fire no longer has firemen on the ground.

The fire broke out Monday afternoon and is suspected to have been caused by human activity. The cause of the fire, however, is still officially under investigation.

Unseasonably low precipitation levels, low humidity and high winds added fuel to the fire, allowing it to spread quickly. Hemlocks in the Hopyard, according to the DEEP, were quickly consumed and added the fuel needed by the fire to continue to burn.

“We are just happy no one was hurt,” East Haddam First Selectman Mark Walter said Wednesday. "This was a new experience for us, one that combined high winds causing the fire to jump from treetop to treetop with the burning of dead hemlock along the forest floor.”

Walter is optimistic that the town will focus its fire training to fight this type of fire in the future and will do more with forest management than in the past to help prevent these type of fires.