Bethel CT Tornado/Wind Damage

[CHIEFPHIL 90]

We got hit hard at 4 p.m. It looks like a tornado went thru the western part of town and some of the village.

At about 4 p.m. it got really dark , almost a black/green sky and raining hard. All of the sudden this unbelievable noise came by and lasted a couple of minutes [frieght train] then the power dipped several times and then the bag ripped !!!

First indication of a problem was the PD dispatching a cruiser to Resivior Street for multible 911 calls that were cut off, then we started to get calls on our 7 digit phone reporting fires. Resivior street is a major commuter road leading to the south side of Danbury and Ridgefield. Several people reported seeing funnel clouds in atleast 2 areas of town, consistant with e path of sever damage.

The dispatchers finially got a call that several trees and poles with wires were down on cars on Resivior Street. Upon arrival of Car 2, Eng 5 and rescue 1 we found utter destruction. 3 cars with primary wires on them with people in the cars. mutli poles on the grounsd and tress all over the place. As we made contact witht he people we assured them to stay in the cars and we would get them oput when power was confirmed off. We did a recon of the area and found that a strech of road going into Danbury looked like a war zone. Up to at least 20 homes damaged, a few heavily and unhabitable, possibley one destroyed. Cl&P arrived with 20 minutes and determined the power was indeed off and all the people were removed from thier cars. Rescue 1 crew continued to search the damaged area for any potential victims , checked with the occupants of the homes to see if any injury and or special medical needs needed to be taken care of.

With in a couple of minutes on scene we were hit with numerous trees on wires, poles down trees into houses throuought the village area. We then got toned for a structure fire on Fleetwoood ave from a lightning strike, Eng 5 with C-2 responded leaving the rescue to handle the original call. Eng 6 found a potential life safety hazard enroute and could not continue it's responce. It appears the dispatchers called Danbury for help and 3 engine co's were dispatched to back up Eng 5. Very small fire and was handled with a can by Eng 5 crew and all other units RTS.

Numerous calls for help were also received for fires and trees into houses on Dittmar Drive on the top of chestnut Ridge going into the town of Redding, Tanker 1 and utility 1 resonded to that incident and upon arrival found a similiar situation as the original incident , but no life safety hazards.

eng 5 & 6 utility 1 continued non stop for the next 2 hours responding to numerous wind related damage.

At 1730 hrs Tanker 1 responded to the PT Barnum Square area for an unsafe building. Upon arrival found a three story mutli dwelling with a good deal of siding taken off the building . several section s on the third floor were hanging in a dangerous manner, the crew gained enty to the third floor and reaching out windows removed the hazards. The people inthe apt were very shaken up and reported to us that a large "bang" hit the building at about 4 p.m.

During the hieght of the storm a walk-in to the FD required EMS , A2 transported to DHER. Not a storm related injury.

FD activity ceased at approcx 2000 hrs.

All I can say is that Bethel in Hebrew means "house of god", no one was hurt and I think the supreme one was looking out for us all last night .

[PC415 1]

Wow Chief you guys were pretty busy. Sounds like you guys handled everything wonderfully. Good job to you and all the departments that assisted.