Eastford Church Fire

At approximately 0325 on April 23, 2023, in the midst of a strong thunderstorm, a first alarm assignment was struck forreports of a structure fire at the Eastford Congregational Church on Church Road in Eastford (CT). Minutes later, a responding unit requested an immediate second alarm. As crews arrived, they found the church heavily involved with fire coming through the roof. Asecond-alarm was struck in addition to a regional Tanker Task Force request, due to the lack of hydrants in the area. Early into the firefighting ops, the decision was made to go defensive due to heavy fire and a roof collapse. Aerial apparatus were brought in from the Woodstock, Dayville, and UCONN to get wateronto the innerportions of the structure which was not reachable by exteriorhandlines. To supply these three units with water, nearly a mile of five-inch LDH was laid, with relay engines strategically placed along the route. Additionally, the TankerTask Force was put to work on a tankershuttle. These tankers drove a loop, approximately 1.5-miles long, to be filled by a draft engine at the fill site and dump theirtanks into three waiting drop tanks. The incident was put undercontrol afterapproximately three hours.