Fire Destroys Workshop on Tolland Stage Road

A swift moving fire claimed a well known contractor's workshop early this morning.

The property owned by Fred Bilow at 680 Tolland Stage Road is most likely a total loss, according to fire personnel.

A passerby called in the fire at 12:20 a.m. with heavy smoke filling the area. Because of the freezing cold temperatures, Public Information Officer Seale Tuttle said at one point it may have been -7ºF, fire apparatus had a difficult time traversing the frozen, narrow driveway to get back to the workshop, which was about 1,000 feet off the main road.

A town Department of Public Works payloader was called to increase the width of the access road to accomodate the necessary pumper trucks, Tuttle said this morning. State Department of Transportation personnel also assisted put down extra sand and sale along the main road and the drive.

Fire personnel were able to save a large garage that was attached to the Bilow's workshop, according to a news release from Chief John C. Littell. The workshop was a loss, though, and had already started to collapse when firefighters arrived at the scene.

Seale said the structure was built in the 1940s and was "filled with a life's accumulation of things that a contractor would have." Bilow built dozens, if not hundreds of houses in this region in the 1960s and 1970s and continue to use the facility, Seale said. Bilow was not in the building at the time, Seale said.

Fire crews had the fire, which they attacked from the exterior, under control by around 2:30 a.m. but did not leave the scene until around 4:30 a.m., Tuttle said.

The freezing temperatures also made it difficult to reload the fire hose, which had frozen after the water was turned off, and many firefighters themselves were covered in ice.

No firefighters were injured, yet some had to go back to the fire station in order to thaw their turnout gear, which, in some cases, was frozen to their bodies.

The last few weeks have been tough for the department. that trapped a few horses was also difficult to access because of the mounds of ice and snow.

During the storms, a town sand truck accompanied the ambulance on some runs to make sure its passengers made it safely to their destinations, Seale said. 

He reminded residents that with mailboxes covered with snow and house numbers obstructed it is important to signal emergency personnel in some manner, such as flickering a house light, after calling for service.