Multiple fires ignite region

HARLEM VALLEY — There have been multiple fires across the county this week, with at least nine fires reported on Monday, March 26. They stretched from Wassasic to Pawling, Poughkeepsie to Freedom Plains. The previous week there was a large fire on Indian Mountain Road in Lakeville, Conn. The fires ranged from brush fires to electrical fires to a fire that began on board a school bus, behind Arlington High School. The reason for all of the fires, according to local firefighters, was primarily the dry, windy conditions.A brush fire started at 12:23 p.m. on Poplar Hill Road in Wassaic between house numbers 119 and 183 on Monday, March 26.Wassaic Fire Chief Scott Boardman said the Amenia, Millbrook and Dover fire departments assisted Wassaic.“It was a brush fire; nothing major. It looked worse than it was,” said Boardman, noting it took 30 to 45 minutes to put out. “It was just a small road side fire, probably started with a cigarette or something thrown out of a car.”There were a number of fires on Monday alone because of the dry weather and strong winds. According to the number of calls made on the police scanner on Monday, there were fires in areas such as Clinton Corners, Arlington, Poughkeepsie, Lagrangeville and Pawling.“It’s so dry. People should just use common sense,” he said. “It’s dry out and just throwing a little cigarette out will start a fire. Today with the wind it is as though you just blew on a campfire and started a fire with the wind — it makes it so much worse. It’s dry out and that really is the main cause, and people have to really use their heads and take that into account.” The Milbrook Fire Department responded to two fires in Millbrook on Monday, March 26. The two fires were on North Tower Hill Road and Woodstock Road, occurring almost at the same time. Both fires caused no damage to any structures, and were just open space burns.“The one on North Tower was a little under an acre. It was a grass fire,” said Ted Bownas, chief of the Millbrook Fire Department. “We believe it started from the contents of a wood stove that were carelessly disposed of. It took a little under an hour to put the fire out.”Chris Hawks, past chief for the Millbrook Fire Department, was in charge for the North Tower Hill Road fire. The Millbrook Fire Department was assisted by Millerton, Amenia, Wassaic and Sharon, Conn., fire departments. Union Vale Fire Department also was on standby at the Millbrook firehouse.Bownas said the fire wasn’t that big; however, since there were so many other fire departments operating at other fires, Millbrook had to call a lot of companies to get enough manpower.Bownas was in charge at the Woodstock Road fire. Millbrook was assisted by the Pleasant Valley, East Clinton and Stanfordville fire departments.“The fire was about three and a half to four acres,” said Bownas. “That one took us about three hours. It was a little bigger and it was hilly and woody terrain, so a lot more difficult to put out.”The fire occurred because of a powerline hitting a tree due to strong winds. Bownas counted eight fires in the county on March 26, and said powerlines caused five of them. “There is a fire danger condition warning commissioned by the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC). People should be aware of that,” he said. “And the DEC burn ban is still in effect from March 15 through May 15.”

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