Branford Fire and Police Investigate ‘White Substance’ in Stony Creek

Saturday around noon, Branford Fire and Police responded to a residence on Thimble Island Road in Stony Creek on a report of a white substance found across the property said Deputy Fire Chief Ron Mullen.  A relative of the property owner reported the substance to authorities, said Mullen.

Crews immediatly set-up the scene as worst-case scenario, said Mullen, investigating the white powder as a possible dangerous and deadly substance. What they discovered, he continued, was a lot of table salt and a feuding landlord and tenant.

An ongoing string of disputes between a landlord and tenant came to a head when the tenant, a male, moved out of the Thimble Island Road residence this weekend and decided to spread bad luck to his former landlord, explained Mullen. The tenant, who was formerly married to a woman from the Dominican Republic, told Branford police and fire officials that he spread table salt all over his former rental residence to bring the landlord “bad luck.” He said his ex-wife shared the spiritual practice with him.

“It was a decent amount,” said Mullen. “We treated is as worst case scenario.”

Stony Creek Company 5 was first on scene and blocked off the “hot zone” said Mullen allowing the fire and police departments to investigate. It took the departments more than hour to resolve the problem, which included finding the tenant who was sitting in his car in Stony Creek and getting him to admit what happened. “It tied up and wasted a lot of our resources,” said Mullen. But he added, “it was good on-the-job training.”

No charges were brought against the tenant, said Mullen and the two parities decided to go their separate ways.