On May 13th 2010 the Maine Forest Service discovered a ½ acre of the Chase’s Pond watershed forest scorched from fire while surveying the area for Hemlock Woolly Adelgid. The Forest Service passed the information onto the Districts Resource Protection Manager who went out to look at the area. He discovered a small parachute attached to a small chain with a burnt end cap lying in the grass at the edge of the burn. It appeared this device is what caused the fire. He contacted the York Village Fire Department who took several pictures and later determined the device was from a model rocket.
We speculate the rocket was launched somewhere nearby (less than ½ mile from the burn) and was burning when it fell back to the ground igniting the dry grass, leaves and limbs eventually burning itself out, possibly in the night air. The pictures below are from this area. We believe that this was an unintentional accident and are fortunate the fire didn’t cause more damage! This area is very close to the town drinking water intake and would have devastating consequences to water quality had it become a large forest fire.
The users of model rockets need to follow the safety code requiring adult supervision. Launch sites for model rockets range from 100sf to 1500sf of open area.
There are no areas in the watershed where it would be safe to launch a model rocket. In the future please find a safe location to enjoy this activity.
To read the Model Rocket Safety Code Click Here
Also read the article on SeacoastOnline.com Click Here