Category Archives: Towns

State Crews to Monitor Site of 50-Acre Brush Fire in Lyme

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About 38 firefighters, including 15 from Lyme Fire Company, worked Wednesday to put down a roughly 50-acre brush fire in town. Photo courtesy of Lyme Fire Company.

LYME – A roughly 50-acre brush fire that threatened two homes in the woods between Becket Hill Road and Grassy Hill Road yesterday is contained and will be monitored. 

Lyme Fire Company Deputy Chief Sam Adams in a phone call this morning said the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection was set to return to the area to assess the situation. He said he did not see signs of fire when he drove by early in the day. 

He said the fire, which was called in around 1:54 p.m. Wednesday, was largely extinguished when local crews were sent home around 6:20 p.m.

The state agency kept a crew on scene overnight to monitor hot spots. 

There were no injuries or damage to property, according to Adams.

About 38 firefighters from multiple jurisdictions arrived Wednesday afternoon to find flames moving up the ridgeline toward a house at the top of Becket Hill, Adams said. 

He counted 15 firefighters from the Lyme Fire Company. 

The fire was located in the woods between Becket Hill Road and Grassy Hill Road. Photo courtesy of Lyme Fire Company.

He said the DEEP was brought in when crews sent into the woods saw the fire spreading toward another house. 

Also responding were East Haddam Fire Department, Salem Volunteer Fire Company, Old Saybrook Fire Department, Old Lyme Fire Department, Montville Fire Co #1, Essex Fire Engine Co. #1, Niantic Fire Department, Flanders Fire Department and Lyme Ambulance Association. 

Crews of two or three firefighters each were sent out in compact, maneuverable utility vehicles affixed with water tanks, according to Adams. Some used rakes and leaf blowers to create a fire line about six to eight feet wide in front of the flames.

“The hope is that when the fire reaches that point, there’s no more material for it to actually burn,” he said. 

Calm winds prevented embers from “jumping the fire line” and helped prevent flames from spreading past the barrier created by the firefighters, according to Adams. 

Lyme Fire Company in a social media post credited Essex Fire Marshal John Planas for bringing in a drone equipped with a thermal imaging camera. The drone, which flew for the duration of the incident, allowed for more refined tactics and a rapid reduction in the size of the fire.

“That was a very, very big help as far as getting eyes on top of the fire and kind of seeing what direction it was headed,” Adams said.

The deputy chief expected to hear from the DEEP with an assessment of conditions in the afternoon. 

Literature in the Lymes: ‘The Thursday Murder Club’ by Richard Osman

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Oh, I wish there were a million more of his books. Instead, this far, there are only four in this series and one in the new series.

More to come, but who can wait when they are this good?

Osman is not only a maestro of the mystery but a comedy man. His characters are spot on cleverly written and usually hilariously so. 

Osman is a writer, who doesn’t assume the reader needs a long drivel of an explanation, so his brevity is flattering. We feel in on the joke when he describes someone.

The Thursday Murder Club is the first of this series and I’d never heard of it when I previewed the upcoming film. 

I immediately ran out for the book and was even more delighted. Each subsequent book was better but I begin here.

Four residents of Coopers Chase retirement community have formed a club. They each bring experience and a certain ‘je ne sais quoi’ to the table when it comes to solving murders. This they do with alarming and hilarious alacrity, much to the consternation of the local constabulary. 

Osman’s gift is hiding the clues so well that you have no idea what’s coming. In the land of predictability you are blindsided every few chapters and it’s marvelous.

At first there is a murder at Coopers Chase. A builder and his henchmen are so busy swindling and bribing, they don’t realize they are being watched.

The Thursday Murder Club is going to get to the bottom of all this. Who is doing this killing? This bribing? Are they going to lose their homes? Oh no they are not!

If anyone thinks these four seemingly sweet, innocent, elderly people are what they seem, then they are in for quite the surprise. 

Watching these four — Elizabeth, Joyce, Ibrahim, Ron and their supporting cast — become friends is so heart-warming.

As cloying as it sounds, it’s such a good time to find a series of books that you can curl up with and just be happy in a world away from the world.

Jennifer Petty Hilger

About the author: Jen Petty Hilger grew up in New York and London, England, but finds herself happily quiet living by the water in Old Lyme.

She and her husband have six children between them and a myriad of rescued animals.

Lyme First Selectman David Lahm Will Not Seek Reelection; No Candidates Announced Yet

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LYME – Newly unaffiliated First Selectman David Lahm will not be seeking reelection in November. 

“I’ll be 66 years old when I leave office,” he said from the Town Hall Tuesday night. “I’ve been a volunteer in one way or another in this town, and in the service of our country in the military, since 1975. It’s time for my wife and I to build some time for us.”

Lahm was a Republican selectman when he was appointed to the top seat in 2022 after the mid-term retirement of Democrat Steve Mattson. 

He said he informed the leadership of both major political parties back in January of his intention not to run for another term. No candidates for the first selectman’s seat have been announced. 

“All things considered, I would have liked to have spent another term, but I look at some people I know who are no longer with us, and I don’t want to be one of these guys who works and then, six months after he retires, dies,” Lahm said. 

Lahm acknowledged that he switched his political affiliation from Republican to unaffiliated a few weeks ago. He said he based the decision on “national politics” under President Donald Trump. 

“I can’t be affiliated with that administration,” he said. 

But his discontent with the situation nationally did not drive his local reelection decision, according to the first selectman. He said officials in Lyme “have a long tradition of working across the aisle.”

Lahm recalled starting out his voting life as a Democrat. He became a registered Republican in 1992. 

“I changed then because I felt the Democratic Party had left me, and I now feel the Republican Party has left me,” he said. 

Lahm began volunteering in Lyme at age 16 as part of the Lyme Fire Company. He went on to join the U.S. Army, earn his law degree, and serve in the Connecticut National Guard until his retirement as a full colonel in 2012. His service includes tours in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Lahm was elected to the Board of Selectmen in 2021. Democrat Kristina White was appointed to take his place when he took over for Mattson as first selectman.

The board under Lahm’s leadership changed its name to the Board of Selectpeople in 2023, though he said at the time they would retain the gendered forms of their titles individually.

Republican Town Committee Chairwoman Mary Powell-St. Louis in a Wednesday phone call said the committee is finalizing its slate of candidates for all board and commission seats up for election in November. She expects to announce the full slate by the end of June.

Powell-St. Louis said she’s been the local Republican chairwoman since March of last year. She replaced Lahm, who resigned from the committee the previous December.

She said she wishes him well on “the next chapter of his journey.”

“I think he’s been a solid force for the town and I think his leadership was well received by the entire community – the Republican, Democratic and unaffiliated sides,” she said. 

She described Lahm’s decision to change his political affiliation as a personal one. 

She said the Republican Town Committee is more concerned with local issues than what happens on the national stage. 

“Speaking for myself, I think that the national politics don’t belong in the small town of Lyme,” she said. “We’re focused on the local issues and local representation.” 

John Kiker, a selectman and the chairman of the Democratic Town Committee, said Lahm’s inclusive leadership style will be missed. 

Kiker and Democrat Kristina White serve with Lahm on the three-member board. 

“He definitely sought our input on all matters,” he said. 

Kiker also emphasized Lahm’s thoughtful way of addressing problems. 

“He has a very calm way of dealing with people, taking things in and making a decision,” he said. 

White in a Wednesday phone interview said Lahm’s commitment to Lyme, a town that has always relied on volunteers, is evident. 

“I think he just exemplifies how we run the town, and exemplifies the character of the town that has always been for people to step up and volunteer,” she said. “And he did that, both as a selectman and stepping in after Steve Mattson resigned.”

Both Kiker and White said they will be running for reelection as selectmen. 

Kiker said local Democratic leadership has identified a possible candidate for first selectman. He declined to announce the name pending a vote by the full Democratic Town Committee in May.

Old Lyme Selectmen Place Halls Road Improvements Committee on Hold

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OLD LYME – The Old Lyme Board of Selectmen on Monday pressed pause on the Halls Road Improvements Committee (HRIC).

Selectmen at their regular meeting agreed to the move in the wake of months of controversy involving the future of a short span of road lined with outdated strip malls set between two highway interchanges. At the center of the dispute was a proposal from the Halls Road committee calling for the creation of an overlay district in the commercial zone that would allow apartments and condominiums to be built above, or behind, ground-floor businesses set close to the street. 

Months of vocal opposition to the group’s work culminated on April 14 when the committee’s vision for Halls Road was rejected in a 4-1 vote by the Zoning Commission. HRIC chairwoman Edie Twining resigned a few days later after six years at the helm. 

Many residents – more than 1,200 in an online petition and more than 500 packed into an April public hearing – did not see eye to eye with the committee.

First Selectwoman Martha Shoemaker in a phone interview Tuesday said the town’s three selectmen agreed to put the Halls Road committee on a “hiatus.”

There are currently four vacancies on the nine-member committee, according to the town website. 

“All three of us so much appreciate all the work the Halls Road Improvements Committee has done over the years, and we just want to plan for the best way forward,” she said. 

Shoemaker and HRIC member Paul Gianquinto will meet with the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) on May 5 to discuss unfinished business involving a plan for physical improvements to Halls Road. Representatives of the DEEP have been in talks with town officials about the possibility of transferring ownership of the state’s property on the east bank of the Lieutenant River to Old Lyme, as long as the town agrees to build a fishing pier and parking spaces there. 

Shoemaker said she will bring the topic back to the Board of Selectmen for discussion after she and Gianquinto meet with the state. 

As part of the HRIC plan to make the road safer and more passable for walkers and bikers, selectmen in 2023 hired AI Engineers of Middletown to come up with plans for a pedestrian bridge over the Lieutenant River and a trail system between Lyme Street and Halls Road. The designs were funded with $135,000 in federal American Rescue Plan money and a $28,500 grant through the Connecticut Recreational Trails program.

Shoemaker said selectmen on Monday concurred with a longstanding call among residents to put sidewalks on the road. 

She said she’s had preliminary talks with the town engineer about what those sidewalks might look like but did not yet have specific details. She was also exploring grant options through the state to cover construction. 

The Halls Road Improvements Committee was introduced by Democrat Bonnie Reemsnyder in 2015 with the goal of advising the Board of Selectmen on how best to develop a master plan for the area. The result evoked images of village-like storefronts and apartments, a pedestrian bridge, more greenspace and sidewalks. 

But Reemsnyder successor Tim Griswold, a Republican, called the vision too grandiose. He said at the time that he preferred to focus on building sidewalks one segment at a time before considering such broad plans. He withdrew a previous zoning proposal to create a Halls Road Village District before it could go to public hearing. 

The recently rejected overlay district application was signed by Shoemaker in November. The proposal was represented at the public hearing by William Sweeney, the attorney for the Halls Road Improvements Committee since 2022.

Shoemaker emphasized HRIC members serve at the request of the Board of Selectmen. 

“We’re going to put them on pause for a little while,” she said.

Death Announced of Charles Edward Brinley II, of Old Lyme, Retired Coal Executive Whose Career Spanned the Country

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OLD LYME — Charles Edward Brinley II, of Old Lyme, Connecticut, died peacefully on April 2, 2025, at the age of 84. 

Born on November 17, 1940, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Charlie was the beloved husband of Margaret Nicoll Cadwalader Brinley for 57 years — a partnership that exemplified love, mutual respect, and playfulness. 

Charlie grew up in Chestnut Hill, Pennsylvania… He attended Yale University, graduating in 1963 with a degree in History …

Charlie and his wife Nicoll met in Philadelphia … In 1970, Charlie and Nicoll welcomed their son, Charles Edward Brinley III. 

Charlie began his business career in Philadelphia at the Philadelphia National Bank … Charlie’s professional journey took him to many places … In 2009, Charlie and Nicoll moved to Old Lyme, Connecticut, where Charlie served as Secretariat (CEO) of CETOA, an international consortium of coal terminal businesses, until his retirement in 2022.

Charlie was predeceased by his parents, William West Frazier Brinley and Dorothy Bullitt Brinley of Philadelphia. He is survived by his wife, Margaret Nicoll Cadwalader Brinley; his son, Charles Edward Brinley III (Margot Morrison Brinley); and his three beloved grandchildren, William, Reily, and Catherine. He is also survived by his three siblings, Dorothy Manou, Helen Abraham, and Frazier Brinley, as well as his beloved extended family …

A memorial service will be held in Old Lyme, Connecticut, with details to follow. In lieu of flowers, gifts in Charlie’s memory may be made to Groton School, Groton, MA 01450-0991, attention of John D. MacEachern, Director of Alumni Affairs, for support of the school’s GRAIN initiative (which makes tuition more affordable for all students of every background and financial status). Alternatively, donations may be made to the Old Lyme Ambulance Association (14 Cross Lane, Old Lyme, 06371).

Editor’s Note: Visit this link to view the obituary published by Dignity Memorial.