An old furnace boiler was removed from the Mad River last week thanks to a group of neighbors and Warren residents seizing the initiative and the tank. The tank came down the river after Tropical Storm Irene in 2011. It was lodged in the trees and bank since then.
Pam Ricark said that it was behind her house in the village and visible whenever they went swimming. She and her brother Jon Rickard, along with Andrew and Sarah Spencer and Brian Hertz approached Jito Coleman, chair of the Warren Conservation Commission, about having it removed.
“I thought it was a good idea and I told them the conservation commission would apply for it,” Coleman said.
Pam Rickard et al got in touch with Claire Ewald, Waitsfield, about getting it hauled out of the river.
“It was really a public health hazard and dangerous for anybody swimming by it because it was really rusted, and someone could slice their leg open or worse. We just couldn’t find anyone with the right equipment who was willing to do it with us but finally with the low water level of the river in the last couple of weeks it made it a lot easier to get it out. Claire Ewald had a truck with a winch on it. We dragged it out of the river two weekends ago and Andrew and Sarah will recycle it in Montpelier,” Pam Rickard said.
Coleman praised the citizen initiative and noted that Hertz and Jon Rickard are part of Warren’s main knotweed eradication crew and familiar with that stretch of the river.
“It’s great that a group of citizens took action on such an obvious thing and didn’t wait around for some official action to solve a problem,” Coleman said.
