Stoughton Fire Dept, DPW, State DCR Discuss Meads Meadow Burn

A week-and-a-half following the Nov. 7 incident at Meads Meadow where a , sending one Department of Public Works employee to the hospital with , local and state officials met at the scene to discuss the accident.

The DPW was conducting its annual clearing of Meads Meadow for winter recreation on the morning of Nov. 7, so the field at the corner of Washington Street and Gay Street could be turned into a skating rink.

The wind shifted directions that morning, and DPW employee Steve Lewandowski saw the fire coming, but was stuck in the mud and was unable to escape in time. Batchelder said Lewandowski put his head in the water to protect his face, but still suffered burns on his shoulders and back, as a result.

Fire Chief , Stoughton DPW Superintendent John Batchelder and Dave Celino, Chief Fire Warden with the state’s Bureau of Forest Fire Control, met at the meadow on the afternoon of Nov. 18.

Celino, whose bureau falls under the state’s Department of Conservation and Recreation, met with Dolloff at the . The two then met Batchelder at Meads Meadow.

Celino said he didn’t come to Stoughton to “point fingers.”

Rather, Dolloff, Batchelder and Celino were looking to take a proactive first step in preventing something like this from happening again, and instead turn this “near-miss” into a teachable moment for all of their respective departments.

The three discussed the possibility of setting up future training sessions, both in a classroom setting and out in the field for both the fire department and the DPW.

Celino said minor changes in planning and training can make all the difference when conducting a controlled burn, or dealing with any type of fire.

Classes and live training sessions would deal with fire behavior, the weather [especially wind] and how it relates to the fire, what resources each department has to deal with the fire, fuel load, and steps that can be taken to maximize safety and minimize any potential injury.

One of these live training sessions could include the controlled burn of Meads Meadow next fall, although nothing has been finalized yet.

“A lot of lessons shared in wildlife fire management can be shared with structural fire situations,” Celino said.

He said the motivation for his department to assist Stoughton in training is that “history will repeat itself; we need to work together.”

“Massachusetts, believe it or not, has a rich history in wildlife fire,” Celino said.

The crew Batchelder had out conducting the controlled burn on Nov. 7 was an experienced crew, he said. One of the workers even had fire training.

Celino said that with more experience sometimes you can “get complacent.” Experienced burn crews, he said, can sometimes have more mistakes.

Celino credited Dolloff and Batchelder for taking a proactive stance and being willing to make the necessary corrections.

“One of the positives is kudos to these guys [Dolloff and Batchelder] for reaching out,” Celino said. “When we have near-misses like this, it’s huge they want to look at signs [of what went wrong] and change protocol.”

 “It’s definitely beneficial for the Chief’s crew as well as mine,” Batchelder said of the possible training sessions.

“It’s a consortium of agencies getting together to take a proactive stance towards future incidents in town involving the public and [town] workers,” Dolloff said. “The ultimate goal is safety for the residents and town workers.”

As for Lewandowski, Batchelder said he is “doing pretty well.”

“His attitude is great; looking forward to the day he comes back to work.”

Batchelder said the controlled burn of Meads Meadow has always been handled by the DPW and that his department has a lot of experience in handling the controlled burn.

“It was an unfortunate incident,” Batchelder said. “I don’t think there’s been anything close to this nature. It could have happened whether it was the fire [department] or public works [conducting the burn].”

Because of the accident, the DPW did not finish its burn of the meadow and there is still some brush left in the pond.

Batchelder said he has had DPW crews out there with pitch forks removing some of the brush—“it looks like Sturbridge Village [out there],” he said—but now Batchelder has to hope the wind aides him this time around and helps to drag any remaining brush toward the shoreline. If not, the DPW will have to go out there and clip the remaining pieces of brush so the meadow can be turned into a skating rink.