Vehicle Destroyed By Fire At State Boat Launch

By Andrew Gorosko

A New Milford man who was driving an older midsize Ford camper near the state’s Pond Brook Boat Launch on Hanover Road on Tuesday night noticed that the vehicle was experiencing mechanical problems, so he pulled over into the boat launch’s parking lot to check on the situation, according to Newtown Hook & Ladder Fire Chief Dave Ober.

The man smelled the odor of gasoline and on opening the Ford truck’s hood, the man saw the engine compartment burst into flames, Chief Ober said.

Brad Meling, 31, then attempted to put out the flames, but could not, the fire chief said.

Meling attempted to flag down passing motorists on Hanover Road to get help, but was unsuccessful, so he went to a nearby house to place a call for help, Chief Ober said.

After receiving the 8:03 pm call, about 15 Hook & Ladder firefighters responded to the scene to extinguish the vehicle, which was involved in flames when they arrived, Chief Ober said. Town police were notified of the incident.

There were no injuries in the fire, which destroyed the vehicle that is more than 20 years old. The vehicle is owned by a Sandy Hook man, Chief Ober said. A damage estimate was not available.

The fire is not considered suspicious, but likely a malfunction of the vehicle, the fire chief said.

The burning camper was not near any other objects while aflame in the middle of boat launch’s large parking lot, he said.

Firefighters used less than 1,000 gallons of water carried on fire trucks to quickly extinguish the blaze, he said.

After the fire was out, a wrecker operator winched the destroyed camper onto a flatbed wrecker and carried it away.

Chief Ober noted that the area where the fire occurred is in a “dead zone,” where cellular telephones do not work and where town emergency radio communications is spotty due to geographic conditions.

The boat launch is on the east side of Hanover Road, east of Hanover Road’s intersection with Pond Brook Road.

 State police were notified that a fire had occurred on state property, the fire chief said. The boat launch provides boaters with access to the Lake Lillinonah section of the Housatonic River.