KENT — Years of training came into play Friday, March 21 when, in a chaotic few hours, first responders from across the state all converged on KenMont and KenWood Camps where a fire was greedily consuming two camp buildings.
Responding to the scene were 12 fire departments, fire marshals, state police, the DEEP Forestry Protection division, Eversource, the Litchfield County Fire Coordinator, the Region 5 Rehab Unit from Danbury, the Kent Volunteer Fire Department Auxiliary and the Salvation Army Food Truck
In addition to the units responding to the scene, additional mutual aid departments moved into the vacated fire departments’ headquarters, providing protection for towns whose trucks had gone to Kent.
All of these separate entities melded together in one mass effort to stop the fire before it could destroy even more property or escape into the forest. Controlling the scene and directing individual units’ duties was incident commander Wendell Soule of the Kent Volunteer Fire Department.
“We divide up operations with the chief, a water supply officer and a staging officer,” Kent Fire Chief Alan Gawal explained. “When the first officer arrives, they size up the situation and as higher-ranking officers come in, they decide if they need a second alarm or third alarm. Calling additional companies is based on different factors, including the location and what the water sources are.”
In this instance, pumper trucks pulled water from a nearby lake, conveying it to the fire scene.
The alarm was sounded at 10:05 a.m., according to Gawal. “The first Kent officer was on the scene at 10:12,” he said. “By 11:57, the fire was declared under control.” And by 2 p.m., firefighters were leaving the scene.
Gawel said two 60-foot-by-20-foot camp cabins were fully engulfed in flames at the time the firefighters arrived and that there were “multiple exposures to fire” for 10 other cabins.
Whipping winds of up to 30 mph complicated efforts to control the fire and eventually a third cabin succumbed to the blaze.
The cabins at the camp are heated by propane and Gawel said four of the tanks caught fire with one suffering a BLEVE (Boiling Liquid Expanding Vapor Explosion). “Shrapnel went into the air when the top blew apart like a bomb,” Gawel said.
Crews were able to shut off the other tanks and Eversource killed the power to electric lines to prevent more explosions.
A blown propane tank sits among ash and debris at the scene of the fire in Kent March 21.Provided
According to a statement released by the camp, an electrician working in an unused staff cabin inadvertently sparked the blaze. The camp, located at 65 Kenmont Rd., offers co-ed programs for kids aged 7 to 15 during the summer.
Following the incident, camp owner Brad Lerman said, “We at KenMont KenWood Camps are incredibly grateful for the quick response of the many local fire companies and the many other emergency personnel who quickly responded to this morning’s limited structure fire.”
Gawel added his own note of appreciation to all the other organizations that contributed to the day’s success.
Two Kent firefighters were injured at the scene and received treatment in the hospital.
“One was released, and the other was admitted,” Gawel said, adding that firefighters were waiting for word about the hospitalized firefighter’s condition.
“He is a long-time Kent resident,” the chief said. “Our thoughts and prayers are with that firefighter and his family. We volunteer to do this job, but sometimes I think people don’t realize that it is dangerous.”
He asked residents to send their best wishes to the injured firefighters via the company’s Facebook page. HIPAA regulations prevent releasing identities.
The firefighters left the scene around 2 p.m., but their day was far from over. As that scene was winding down, an accident scene was developing. Route 7 was shut down at 1:30 p.m. at the junction of routes 7 and 341 while emergency crews worked to free a motorist whose car had become entangled in electrical wires brought down by a felled tree.
Eversource was at the scene by 1:52 p.m. and the wires were removed from the car by 1:58 p.m. First responders left the scene 15 minutes later, the motorist having refused hospital transport, and the investigation was turned over to the State Police. Route 7 was reopened.
At 2:31 p.m., Kent Engine 1 reported a possible illegal burn on Schaghticoke Road and asked Litchfield County Dispatch to notify the Connecticut State Police. Shortly thereafter, Kent Engine 2 responded to Schaghticoke Road, but by 2:51 p.m. both trucks responded to Jennings Road where another tree was reported down across the entire road.
A fifth alarm dispatched to Kent School for an automatic alarm in the chapel.
Kathryn Boughton is the editor of Kent Dispatch.
The Berkshire Resilience Brass Band brought lively brass and jazz-inspired music to the lawn at the David M. Hunt Library on Friday evening, July 24.
Audience members became part of the performance as well. During one number, the horn players switched to percussion, while a basket of rattles and other handheld instruments was available for audience members to play along. Sadeh and O’Dea encouraged several young children to shake along with the music.
The audience continued to grow throughout the evening, including a family who stopped after hearing the music while driving by.
Although the band’s performances sound spontaneous, they begin with a shared musical framework.
“We start with a tune or arrangement,” Rogers said. “Then we do or don’t follow it.”
Rogers estimated that any given performance is at least half improvisation.
It’s not left entirely to chance. O’Dea said the group rehearses once a week, on Sundays.
Patrick L. Sullivan
Deanna Hearn opened Lucky Orphans in 2003.
Growing up in the Bronx, Hearn was captivated whenever she saw horses. Her grandfather, a Korean War veteran, had cared for military horses during the war. After returning home, he struggled with addiction, and the invisible wounds of military service. Through every difficult chapter of his life, however, one thing consistently brought him peace.
“Horses bring peace,” he told his granddaughter.
When Hearn was 11, after years apart, Hearn and her grandfather began spending weekends riding together. Less than a year later, he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. Before he died, he asked family members to help buy Hearn’s first horse — a stubborn paint horse that bit, kicked and frequently threw her off. She wanted to sell him. Her father refused.
“Every life has value,” he told her.
Looking back, Hearn says that lesson became the foundation of everything she would later build.
What began as a boarding stable in 2003 took a different direction after the Dutchess County SPCA asked Hearn to care for horses seized in cruelty cases. She soon realized that although Dutchess County had one of New York’s largest horse populations, there was no dedicated nonprofit equipped to care for neglected and abused horses. Lucky Orphans officially became a nonprofit in 2008.
Some of the more than 40 horses at Lucky OrphansProvided
Today, Hearn is quick to point out that Lucky Orphans is not simply a rescue.
“We’re a sanctuary,” she said.
Many of the more than 40 horses living there arrive with broken bones, chronic illnesses, heart conditions, missing eyes or other injuries that make them unsuitable for riding or adoption. Rather than rehabilitating and rehoming them, Lucky Orphans makes a lifetime commitment to every horse.
In 2013, Hearn became certified in equine-assisted psychotherapy, combining her lifelong relationship with horses and the lessons she learned from her grandfather to create programs for veterans, trauma survivors, children and families facing emotional challenges. The transformations she witnesses continue to surprise her. She recalls one woman who arrived convinced she would not fit in with a group of strangers. During the session, a horse quietly chose to follow her without a rope or commands. For the first time in years, the woman said she felt truly seen.
Another memory has stayed with Hearn ever since. A teenager in a juvenile probation program, wearing an ankle monitor and struggling with anger, entered a round pen with a horse. As his frustration grew, the horse moved farther away. When he finally calmed himself, the horse walked directly toward him and rested its head against his chest.
“I told him, ‘If you can control your energy, you can control the world around you,’” Hearn said.
Stories like these sustain her through the difficult realities of running a nonprofit. Operating the sanctuary costs roughly $52,000 each month, and Hearn lives on the property, where the work never truly ends. Veterinary bills, staffing, fundraising and the daily care of dozens of horses are constant concerns. Then someone returns years later and tells her that the horses changed their child’s life.
“That’s why I keep going,” she said.
Looking ahead, Hearn hopes more people discover what makes Lucky Orphans unique. The organization is expanding its community programming with educational visits, yoga sessions, horse encounters, volunteer opportunities and family events designed to reconnect people with horses and with one another.
Her vision is simple: to create a place where people slow down, reconnect and remember something modern life often makes us forget. If horses could speak, Hearn believes they would offer just one piece of advice.
“They’d tell us to slow down,” she said.
After spending an afternoon at Lucky Orphans, it’s hard to disagree.
For more information or to plan a visit, go to luckyorphans.org
Want more of our stories on Google? Click here to make us a Preferred Source.
