Brush fire burns 100 acres

By ELLEN KOLMAN and MARK TODD - Staff Writers
Star Beacon

March 24, 2009 11:03 am

— NEW LYME TOWNSHIP — A brush fire scorched nearly 100 acres of a corn field before it was doused by firefighters from nine departments Monday afternoon.
No injuries were reported and no property was damaged, although came perilously close to homes in the area, said Rome Township Fire Chief Ed Koziol.
People burning twigs and yard debris behind the New Lyme Baptist Church on Dodgeville Road inadvertently started the fire, Koziol said. Wind fanned the flames, which ripped into a 250-acre field nearby.
Assisting Rome at the scene were personnel and equipment from Orwell, Wayne, Dorset, Jefferson, Morgan, Hartsgrove, Andover and Montville in neighboring Geauga County, Koziol said. Among the departments, 18 pieces of equipment and up to 50 firefighters were at the scene, he said.
“We were successful in stopping (the fire),” Koziol said. “Everyone worked together real well.”
The fire began behind the church, continued west to Parks Road and headed south towards Windsor Road before it was stopped.
The initial call was received at 2:30 p.m., and the last truck left the scene nearly four hours later, Koziol said.
The fire occurred on land owned by Britton Farms, Koziol said. The owner used a tractor to create a break around the fire that helped slow the progress of the flames, he said.
Kathy Bates, a Dodgeville Road resident, said the fire was across the street from her house.
“Before I left for the store, I saw an old man picking up sticks and putting them on the brush pile behind the church, and I thought I hope he doesn’t light that in this wind,” Bates said.
Although Bates did not see the old man light the sticks, when she returned from shopping about 1 1/2 hours later, her road was lined with fire trucks and the whole field across the street behind the church was ablaze.
“People do not realize how dry those old corn stocks really are and how easy and fast they can burn,” Bates said. “I am so glad no one lost their house, including me.”
People reported seeing the fire as far away as Cherry Valley Township and Mesopotamia in Geauga County.
Conditions are extremely dry in the county and people need to use caution and common sense before starting fires, Koziol said

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