CAROGA - The forest behind a home emitted smoke in Caroga Lake on Friday morning after a brush fire broke out the previous night.
Area firefighters from several companies responded to 2839 Route 10 at 6 a.m. to reports of a brush fire that affected eight acres of the woods behind the property.
At 9:30 a.m., firefighters from Caroga Lake, Ephratah, Meco, Rockwood and Sir William Johnson fire departments were sweeping and hosing the area in attempts to prevent any more fires from starting.
Article Photos
A fire hose is shown in front of scorched ashen earth on the scene of the brush fire in Caroga Friday.
The Leader-Herald/ John Borgolini
But Caroga Lake Fire Chief Barbara DeLuca said the fire could ignite again because of the heat later in the day.
"It's very hot, and it's very dry," DeLuca said. "What's happening is we're putting it out, and it's sparking back up because of these pine needles. Being in the woods, what happens it will be out, and it will still be hot and will spark out again. [It's like] when you throw pine needles on a fire. That's what it is."
The fire occurred in the back yard of the Route 10 home and spread southeast burning up the dry pine needles on the ground.
DeLuca said she had smelled the smoke the previous night but thought it was a private fire burning.
Firefighters were using Indian Tanks and bladder bags, which allow them to use water when hoses aren't available, to keep the brush and pine needles from igniting further.
"It starts smoldering and gets warm, and of course because it's so dry, it makes for perfect fire conditions," DeLuca said. "I was just up in Raybrook, and they had a moderate - their fire danger was moderate. It's much drier here. We're in a pretty high fire danger right now, I would say, without any rain."
By 1:35 p.m., however, the firefighters had contained the fire. DeLuca and state forest rangers went back to check the conditions at 3:15 p.m.
DeLuca noted that there is a state-wide ban on all burn permits because of the dry conditions.
"That doesn't include campfires, but people should use extreme cautions in these conditions," she said.