A selectman, who is also a contractor, burned a structure to save money.
BETHEL – Selectmen didn’t have to go far Monday night to learn who burned down a dilapidated barn this summer on Mill Hill Road. The fire smoked up the town.
“That was me,” said Selectman Jack Cross. “It was the cheapest way to get rid of the structure.”
Had the building not been burned at a cost of $1,500, Cross, a Bethel contractor, said it would have cost $8,000 to demolish the place and haul debris away.
Cross said he spoke with Bethel Fire Chief Jim Young prior to burning it down on a rainy day.
“Even on a rainy day, you’re going to get smoke,” he said.
The problem occurred the following day as the structure smoldered, said Selectmen Don Bennett and Chairman Harry H. Dresser Jr.
“The day it happened was no problem. It was the next morning when I got up, came downstairs and opened the back porch door and there was this strange blue there,” Bennett said.
“It smoldered for quite a while and it smelled pretty vile,” Dresser said.
In an Oct. 31 memo to selectmen, Town Manager Scott Cole said the burning created a day-long presence of smoke and fumes, “presumed to be unhealthy. Perhaps, this practice ought to be avoided in the future.”
“That was probably our fault. We could have smothered it,” Cross said.
The item was placed on the board’s agenda so selectmen could review the Fire Department’s policy concerning in-town burning of dilapidated structures.
“Should folks in town have to breathe that while someone gets rid of it for $1,500?” Dresser asked, seeking comment from the board.
Young, one of three people present at Monday night’s meeting, said his department takes each building on a case-by-case basis and decides whether conditions allow for the burn.
“We write 250 permits per year and only have two to three complaints each year,” Young said.
He added, though, that the state has changed its guidelines for in-town burning, which would prevent similar burns from occurring in the future.
That appeared to have solved the problem for selectmen, who deigned not to pursue the policy review.
tkarkos@sunjournal.com
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