Pownal, Vt. - Police responding to an early morning report of a possible burglary in progress did encounter a suspect on a second-story porch but the interloper was not human.
Vermont State Police received a report of suspicious noises that sounded as though someone was trying to get into the house from outside the home at about 12:45 a.m.. Town Constable Joel Howard had just completed a night of town patrolling and heard a state police dispatcher relay information to state police officers. Howard said he contacted state police officers about the report and the officers asked him to go to the Barber's Pond Road address.
The residence, located between Hidden Valley and Niles School roads, is a double-wide mobile home situated along the western end of Barber's Pond Road. Howard said he arrived at the home and saw movement on the porch.
"I turned on the spotlight and got out of the car with the flashlight," Howard said.
After exiting the vehicle, he was able to see that the noises were being made by a large animal that may have been a fisher, Howard said.
"At first, I did think it was maybe a bear," he said. "It was a good-sized animal, much bigger than any kind of a house cat I've ever seen, but when I saw the tail, I knew it wasn't a bear."
The animal stared into the bright lights momentarily before it leaped from the porch and ran off into the woods, Howard said.
"It didn't want to stick around for tea and conversation, that's for sure," Howard said.
He notified VSP officers who were en route to the home that the "perpetrator" was an animal, he said.
Howard and VSP trooper Eric Howley investigated the scene and discovered a large paw print, Howard said. The animal investigated some garbage left outdoors and apparently ate some of the trash as well as suet used to stock an outdoor bird feeder, Howard said.
"How it got up onto that porch is something," Howard said, and noted that there are no stairs, ladders, trellis sections or beams that allow outdoor access to the porch. The animal most likely clawed its way upward along the building's exterior walls and then maneuvered over about two -and-a half feet of porch rail to get onto the porch.
The racket made during the climb is most likely what alerted the home owner.
Calls about the animal and the incident were made to a Bennington region game warden. VSP Trooper William Devineaux accompanied Howley to the scene.
Fishers, or "fisher cats" as they are sometimes dubbed, are not felines but, like weasels, are members of the mustelid family.
Fishers are nocturnal and are noted for uttering a very high-pitched, shrill shriek during their mating season. Fishers are among the very few animals that can kill a porcupine. Fishers can be 32- 40 inches lon in body and have an additional 12 to 16 inches of tail.
Male fishers are described as being considerably larger than females. The animals have sharp, retractable claws that are used for climbing. Fishers have been blamed for attacks on pet cats and also the disappearance of small pets such as cats.
Susan Bush may be reached via e-mail at suebush@iberkshires.com or at 413-663-3384 ext. 29.
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State Fire Marshal: New Tracking Tool Identifies 50 Lithium-Ion Battery Fires
STOW, Mass. — The Massachusetts Department of Fire Services' new tool for tracking lithium-ion battery fires has helped to identify 50 such incidents in the past six months, more than double the annual average detected by a national fire data reporting system, said State Fire Marshal Jon M. Davine.
The Department of Fire Services launched its Lithium-Ion Battery Fire Investigative Checklist on Oct. 13, 2023. It immediately went into use by the State Police Fire & Explosion Investigation Unit assigned to the State Fire Marshal's office, and local fire departments were urged to adopt it as well.
Developed by the DFS Fire Safety Division, the checklist can be used by fire investigators to gather basic information about fires in which lithium-ion batteries played a part. That information is then entered into a database to identify patterns and trends.
"We knew anecdotally that lithium-ion batteries were involved in more fires than the existing data suggested," said State Fire Marshal Davine. "In just the past six months, investigators using this simple checklist have revealed many more incidents than we've seen in prior years."
Prior to the checklist, the state's fire service relied on battery fire data reported to the Massachusetts Fire Incident Reporting System (MFIRS), a state-level tool that mirrors and feeds into the National Fire Incident Reporting System (NFIRS). NFIRS tracks battery fires but does not specifically gather data on the types of batteries involved. Some fields do not require the detailed information that Massachusetts officials were seeking, and some fires may be coded according to the type of device involved rather than the type of battery. Moreover, MFIRS reports sometimes take weeks or months to be completed and uploaded.
"Investigators using the Lithium-Ion Battery Fire Checklist are getting us better data faster," said State Fire Marshal Davine. "The tool is helpful, but the people using it are the key to its success."
From 2019 to 2023, an average of 19.4 lithium-ion battery fires per year were reported to MFIRS – less than half the number identified by investigators using the checklist over the past six months. The increase since last fall could be due to the growing number of consumer devices powered by these batteries, increased attention by local fire investigators, or other factors, State Fire Marshal Davine said. For example, fires that started with another item but impinged upon a battery-powered device, causing it to go into thermal runaway, might not be categorized as a battery fire in MFIRS or NFIRS.
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