After the fire department swept through Occupy New Haven and ordered flammable pallets and skids removed, Joe Comfort vowed to rebuild with plastic.
The visit occurred Friday morning, when fire department officers noticed an accumulation of wooden skids and other materials that presented threats to what Assistant Chief Ralph Black called “life safety.”
“We noticed skids and pallets that were building up,” he said in a phone interview. There were also tires around tents.
Black described what happened as a “conversation” that followed on with similar dialogue with the encampment leaders (or non-leaders) at the beginning of Occupy New Haven about what kinds of materials were permissible and what not.
“They agreed to set aside the things for us, the fire department, or for someone to pick up.”
Pallets underneath the tents are still permitted, but wood cannot be used otherwise in any structures on site, according to the Occupy New Haven Facebook page. The page also features a call for “fire extinguishers, fire detectors, and carbon monoxide alarms.”
By Friday at noon, several campers were at work dismantling structures that had been propped up on the inside with the prohibited pallets.
Joe Comfort, a resident of Occupy New Haven from the beginning, was one of them.
Asked what effect the orders would have on him and the small tent he called home, he said simply “I’m going nowhere. I’m gonna rebuild it all in plastic.”
Meanwhile Friday’s high winds were whipping about the encampment making the Green sound like a harbor full of luffing sails. (Click on the video to watch.)
Comfort said that the tents had all borne up well in the wind. The only deconstruction came due to orders from the fire department — not on account of the Aeolian forces afoot.
Previous coverage of Occupy New Haven and Occupy Wall Street:
• Occupation Winterizes
• “Occupy Garlic” Crop Going In
• Next Move: Occupy Foreclosed Homes?
• Bulldozed Elsewhere, Occupy NH Marks 2 Months
• 3 Arrested At Occupy New Haven
• Occupation Rejects “Victory” Declaration
• New Haven Occupiers Clash With NYC Cops
• Who’s In & Who’s Out At The Occupation?
• “I Knew It — He’s A Scumbag”
• “Occu-Pies” Arrive
• Occupation Weather(ize)s Its 1st Storm
• Clergy Bless The Occupiers
• Occupiers Eye Clock Factory
• In New Haven, “Occupiers” Embrace The Cops
• Midnight Drug Warning Sparks Soul-Searching
• Emergency Session Poses Democracy Test
• The Password (The Password) … Is (Is) …
• 1,000 Launch New Haven’s “Occupation”
• Klein: Occupation Needs To Confront Power
• Whoops! Movement Loses $100K
• New Haven’s “Occupation” Takes Shape
• Occupy Branford: Wall Street Edition
• Anti-Bankers’ Dilemma: How To Process $$
• Labor, Occupiers March To Same Beat
• Protests’ Demand: A “World We Want To See”
• Protesters To Occupy Green Starting Oct. 15
• Wall Street Occupiers Page Verizon
• New Haven Exports “Free”-dom To Occupiers
Good job fire department. The thing I have trouble with is that it says the fire department might have to pick up the trash. Why should our fire department pick up their mess. Even putting their trash in the big dumpster that should not be there is not right. When is this paper going to sit down with the mayor and ask why we are spending over 100,000 on these squatters. enough is enough. They are not doing anything but squat.