Quick action by a Bristol volunteer firefighter may have saved the home of a Round Pond couple, James and Maxine Poland.
“We have a lot to be thankful for,” said Maxine.
The Poland’s across the street neighbor watched the drama from start to finish. She agreed with her friend Maxine.
“They saved that house. It was amazing,” said Bethiah Callahan, the neighbor.
The Round Pond incident began shortly after 10 a.m. when firefighter Troy Spinney was driving past the Poland home located just north of the center of Round Pond on Rt. 32 and saw the fire.
“I saw some flames in the side yard and thought it was a brush fire. Then I noticed flames coming out of the underside of a truck,” he said.
Spinney slammed on his brakes. He discovered the fire was coming out from under a pick up truck parked next to the small cape cod style home.
“I ran to the front door and knocked. When no one answered, I opened the door and yelled that I was a firefighter and they need to get out. Then I looked through the house to make sure no one was inside,” he said.
Once he determined no one was inside the home, Spinney dialed 911 on his cell phone.
As Spinney waited for help, the fire engulfed the truck’s engine compartment. Moments later, the flames threatened the north side of the house. It didn’t take long for the home’s vinyl siding to begin to melt.
About that time, other volunteer firefighters arrived along with the new fire engine from the Round Pond station. The volunteers were able to knock down the flames and cool the melting siding.
Chief Paul Leeman credited Spinney for his quick thinking and other volunteers for quickly stopping the blaze.
“It could have been a lot worse,” he said, explaining how the wood siding under the vinyl siding was very dry and very nearly ignited.
“If the fire had gotten inside the house, we would have had real trouble,” said Assistant Chief Gil Jaeger.
Maxine Poland said earlier in the day, her husband had just filled the truck with gas and parked it next to their home. Then they left the house.
“We were away doing errands when we got a call from our daughters,” she said.
“We now have a lot of (insurance) paperwork to do, but it could have been a lot worse. That gasoline could have exploded,” she said.
Meanwhile, Spinney, the youngest firefighter on the scene, watched as other more experienced hands put out the blaze. He was assigned to traffic control on the north end of the fire to make sure passing cars did not run into other volunteers. The volunteer on the south end was the retired chief Ron Pendleton.
“I don’t know who called the fire in, but it was a great job,” said neighbor Callahan.
“They saved their house. It was amazing,” she added. “We are very lucky to have this volunteer fire department.”
