July 9, 2025 | By Lisa Scagliotti
An excavator assists firefighters in knocking down a fire that destroyed a storage barn in Waterbury Center on Wednesday. Photo by Gordon Miller
Waterbury firefighters had a busy Wednesday responding to two fires that mobilized multiple local crews along with mutual aid from several neighboring communities.
The first fire started late in the morning and destroyed a storage barn in Waterbury Center; the second happened in early evening in a garage attached to a home in Duxbury. No one was hurt in either incident.
The calls came barely six hours apart, giving local responders little break in between.
Waterbury Fire Department responded with crews from both Maple Street and Main Street fire stations to the first call that came in at 10:59 a.m., according to Fire Chief Gary Dillon.
The blaze happened at the Owens property at 840 Guptil Road near the corner of Kneeland Flats Road. A single-story barn was fully involved when fire crews arrived, Dillon said.
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Flames engulf the storage barn and black smoke billows up to the sky before firefighters arrive to the Guptil Road scene. Photo by Michael Erwin
Residents were home at the time, but it was passersby who spotted the fire first. Waterbury resident Michael Erwin said he was the second person to stop. “I was just driving up to the center and on my way, I could see black smoke in the distance. As I got closer, I realized it was right ahead and stopped when I saw that the fire department wasn't there yet to make sure someone called,” he said.
Another driver whom he didn’t know had also stopped and called 911. Erwin said the homeowners came out, and they watched together before the firetrucks arrived. “That was a barn that was full of just about anything,” he said. “As we were watching it, there was probably 15 small explosions from something inside.”
Dillon said that’s not uncommon to hear, explaining that items such as aerosol cans will explode when exposed to fire. He confirmed that the building was very full and the extensive contents made it difficult to extinguish the fire. “We couldn’t get through it,” he said.
A call to nearby Walker Construction secured equipment to assist. “They had an excavator headed to a job site and they diverted it and sent it here,” Dillon said.
Firefighters from Bolton and Stowe also responded to the call, along with Waterbury Ambulance Service. EMS responders assisted with helping firefighters cool off during their work. Waterbury fire crew members stayed on site until late afternoon to ensure the fire was out.
Dillon said that the barn was a total loss. An adjacent mobile home sustained some damage to its exterior siding, and a separate single-family home on the property was not affected, he added.
As for the cause, Dillon said he has requested that state fire investigators assist with reviewing the scene. “We just don’t know,” he said, adding though that he did not think the fire was suspicious.
The location of the fire was close to a work site for a culvert repair project underway on Wednesday. Luckily the road excavation on Kneeland Flats Road was to the east of the site of the fire. The road was closed at the culvert location to all traffic while that repair was in progress.
Waterbury Public Works Director Bill Woodruff said when he heard the sirens and saw smoke, he feared the call was coming from beyond where his crew had the road ripped apart.
“Fortunately, it was on the open side,” he said. “The sheer coincidence could have been devastating. The response time would have felt like forever if the [fire] trucks had to go around.”
Photo by Gordon Miller
Second structure fire of the day
Following the barn fire and before some of the Waterbury fire crew members had headed home, a second fully involved structure-fire call came in at 4:50 p.m., Dillon said.
Moretown firefighters head back to their truck after the Duxbury fire. Photo by Gordon Miller
Waterbury firefighters returned to head out a second time, with several more joining them given the time of day as more volunteers were available, the chief said. The new fire location was a residence at 483 Welch Road in Duxbury off Stevens Brook Road. Without its own fire department, Duxbury contracts with Waterbury Fire Department to provide coverage. Crews from Moretown, Waitsfield-Fayston, and Stowe also responded.
Dillon said there was heavy fire on the back side of a two-story garage attached to the home and it involved both levels of the structure. In this case, the homeowner was on site, spotted smoke, and called for help, Dillon said.
The destination – a winding dirt road off a dirt road – was farther away for some of the responders who raced through afternoon traffic along Vermont Route 100. Dillon said firefighters were surprised to see work had already started when they arrived.
Aptly named after the Welch family, the road is home to family members and many were home when the fire started. Dillon said about eight people from the neighborhood took the lead to attack the fire.
“They all came running with their fire extinguishers. There’s an above-ground swimming pool on the property. They had buckets and they were running back and forth throwing water from the pool on it,” he recounted. “It was like an 1800s bucket brigade going on when we got there.”
Dillon said the effort was appreciated. “It helped slow the fire down,” he said.
Firefighters were able to save the garage and the fire damage did not impact the home, Dillon said. In this case, he said he would not request investigation assistance. He noted that homeowner Mike Thompson said he had finished cutting his grass and had put the mower in the garage not long before the fire started.
“We’re pretty sure the cause was from the lawn mower,” Dillon said.
In the midst of working this fire scene, Dillon said yet another call came in from Little River Road in Waterbury requesting firefighters. Fortunately, no structure was involved – a large battery charger in a pickup was overheating and smoking, and the people involved called for help. By that time, the crews from Bolton and Stowe were cleared to leave, and they were able to respond and assist, he said.
Photos below by Gordon Miller. Click to enlarge.
On Thursday, Duxbury homeowners Mike and Shannon Thompson offered their thanks to the fire crews. “We are truly grateful for the efforts of the Waterbury and surrounding fire departments to minimize the damage,” they wrote in a message to Waterbury Roundabout. “They were awesome!”
Waterbury Ambulance Service Executive Director Zachary Rounds was part of the EMS crew that responded alongside the firefighters. In addition to being on site should anyone get injured, the EMS staff are there to offer rehabilitation during a working fire, he explained.
“Especially in the heat of the summer, it does not take long for those battling a blaze to become overrun by exhaustion,” Rounds said in a reply to Waterbury Roundabout. “Our crews responded to both the Waterbury and Duxbury fires yesterday, and provided firefighter rehab at both scenes, which includes monitoring vital signs, emphasizing hydration, and ensuring that each firefighter remains healthy and safe to continue in the strenuous conditions that they face while fighting fire.”
Rounds confirmed that the ambulance crew’s work was limited to the two fire scenes and no one needed transport to a hospital.
