Photo by Peter Sachs
Article:
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A dense, intense fire at the J& J Blasting Company, which leases property in the historic Stony Creek Quarry, led the fire department to use a drone for the first time in its history yesterday and to call for the mandatory evacuation of 862 people who lived
within a mile of the fire.
Doug Anderson, president of the Stony Creek Quarry Corp., told the Eagle that the fire was not on the property he leases from the town. His site is the home of the world-famous pink granite-quarrying operations. Anderson said his workers were evacuated as
a precaution, but they reported back to him that the fire was on adjacent property in the quarry that the town leases to J&J Blasting Corp. The company did not return telephone calls seeking comment.
“It looks like some blasting mats caught fire,” Anderson told the Eagle. It was initially feared the fire was near explosives that might ignite, but a drone was flown over the site to take photos and fire officials later determined the location of the fire
was about 30 feet from the explosives. At that point a fire truck was sent to the site to put the fire out.
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I thought this was a great use of aerial imagery and emergency response!
Meg McGaffin
GIS Analyst
City of Milford CT
70 West River St
Milford, CT 06460
203-783-3393