High fire alert  is no joke
POMFRET — An improperly disposed cigarette during high fire danger sparked a large field fire on Covell Road Easter Sunday, according to fire officials.
Around 2:45 p.m. the Pomfret Fire Department was dispatched to the area of 80 Covell Road for a brush fire.
Approximately 3.6 acres were burned. At the time, the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) had declared a high forest fire alert. The National Weather Service warned there was an elevated risk for fire spread.
Pomfret was one of several locations in the northeast corner where firefighters spent their Easter putting out brush fires.
Pomfret Fire Chief Brett Sheldon arrived on the scene within minutes and reported a multi-acre fire burning in a field moving towards the woodline. Mutual aid brush trucks and manpower came from Hampton, Williamsville and Eastford.
Crews attacked the left and right flanks from a Covell Road anchor point, allowing them to quickly contain the fire. UTVs and off-road brush trucks went in and extinguished the rest of the fire. DEEP Forestry Crew was requested to cut down a hazardous dead tree that was burning inside.
The Eastford Independent Fire Co. and Williamsville Fire Engine Company established a draft site on the Covell Road bridge, providing water to the trucks and UTVs on the scene.
Crews cleared the scene at approximately 4:30. There were no injuries as a result of the fire.
That was just one of more than a dozen brush fires that struck. April 21 crews fought a blaze in Dayville on Upper Maple Street. 
Story and Covell photos courtesy of Daniel Majercik, Quiet Corner Alerts

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Dayville brush fire. Photo courtesy of the East Putnam Fire Department.

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Draft site set up off the Covell Bridge to fight the Covell Road fire.

Left: The Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection  was called in to remove the tree that was burning inside.

Brush Fire
The field smolders at the scene of the Covell Road fire in Pomfret. Numerous brush fires kept firefighters busy over the weekend and into the week. Photos by Daniel Majercik, Quiet Corner Alerts.

Let’s talk about Putnam's long history of trains
By Bill Pearsall
Putnam Municipal Historian
I find it very interesting that in today’s society children seem to be mesmerized by the use of cell phones, even as young as elementary school age.  Let’s think back quite a few years to a time when young girls had dolls and young boys had train sets.  Lionel, American Flyer and Ho’s were common.  I lived in North Haven and a branch of the Air Line RR was close to my house.  It was commonplace for us to run to the tracks upon hearing a train approaching and put a penny on the rail to have it flattened by the train.
When we moved to Putnam and became interested in the history of the town, my interest in the railroad became a focal point for me because it played a big part of Putnam’s history.  I learned some interesting things you may or may not know.
In the beginning locomotives were steam powered and needed water as a source of heat to produce the steam. Coal fire was the source of heat.  There was a coaling station close to where the Municipal Complex is now.  Mining cars loaded with coal would be pushed out on a trestle high over the main track and they would dump coal into the tender car behind the engine. 
The engines also needed water to produce the steam.  At first engines would stop under water tanks to be filled, but that took time.  Water got used up much faster than the coal, so a faster method was needed.  On a flat section of track, a 1,200 feet long pan was built between the rails.  As a train approached, the pan was filled with water and the engineer would lower a scoop into the pan and the water would fill the boiler much faster without having to stop the train.
As rail travel developed, two lines intersected in Putnam.  The only way you could get from New York to Boston was through Putnam.
There used to be a small building by the tracks on May Street (behind Price Chopper today) that was the Gate Keeper’s building.  When a train was coming, the Gate Keeper would leave his building and crank down the crossing gates by hand to stop traffic from crossing the tracks.  He lowered the gates for every passenger train, freight train and switch engine as many as 60 times a day.  
Putnam had two turn tables that were used to turn engines around when they needed to go in the opposite direction.  The engine would be driven on to the turn table and the yard crew would manually spin the table to the opposite direction.  The turn tables became obsolete when the engines were built bigger and no longer fit on them.  To fix this problem, a spur called the “Y” was built north of Putnam heading toward Thompson.  The engine would be driven on the “Y”, a switch would be changed on the tracks and the engine would be backed up making a three-point turn heading in the opposite direction.  The rails have been removed from that site but the bed for the “Y” is still there.
There was an express train that used to come through Putnam.  For some unknown reason it was painted white.  As the white train sped through town, it sort of flickered through the track side trees earning the nickname, the Ghost Train.
Another noteworthy train was the “Swill Train”.  It ran on the air line tracks close to the intersection of River Road and Town Farm Road.  The “Swill Train“ brought gondola cars full of garbage from Boston and that was dumped off a siding in that area.  I guess you could say that “stinks”.
After the 1955 flood and the collapse of the bridge over the Quinebaug River, all passenger service and freight train service on the air line trail ceased.
Finally, we can’t forget the Bud Car.  It was a self propelled passenger car that went from Worcester to New London stopping to pick up passenger at the Putnam Station and other stops along the way.  The last day of The Bud Car service was April 30, 1971.  Some of you may remember The Bud Car.  I think it would be neat to be able to jump on a passenger car and go anywhere between Boston and New York.  What do you think? 
Aspinock Memories graces the pages of the Putnam Town Crier to keep Putnam’s history alive.

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The following charges were listed in the Putnam Police Department logs.  The people charged are innocent until proven guilty in court. The Town Crier will publish dispositions of cases at the request of the accused. The dispositions must be accompanied by the proper documentation. The Putnam Police Department confidential Tip Line is 860-963-0000.
April 6
Rebecca Starr, 48, Dugg Hill Road, Woodstock; first offense, possession control substance; sixth-degree larceny.
April 8
Christopher Allan Dupre, 36, Federal Hill Road, Millbury, Mass.; disorderly conduct.
April 10
Laquan Nakie Matthews, 33, Green Street, Putnam; three counts violation of probation.
April 11
Christopher Michael Laprey, 48, Myers Street, Putnam; four counts second-degree failure to appear, 
Kristin Marando, 31, Church Street, Dayville; two counts first-degree failure to appear, three counts second-degree failure to appear.

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