Fire under the
Moodna Viaduct
(photo: Jim Lennon)
MID-HUDSON – It’s the time of year when the snow is gone, the vegetation hasn’t turned green yet, and it doesn’t take much for fires to spread. Brush fires on Monday afternoon brought out firefighters across the Mid-Hudson region.
One large brush fire was alongside the Thruway in the Woodbury Fire District just south of exit 16. Two brush fires burned in the Campbell Hall Fire District and a large brush fire along the Metro-North Port Jervis Line tracks in the Washingtonville Fire District. Another fire in the Salisbury Mills Fire District underneath the Moodna Viaduct MTA railroad trestle kept firefighters busy.
Rail traffic was shut down for some two hours just before rush hour as a result of the fires.
A brush fire at 3:41 p.m. on Monday burned a half-acre in the area of 1541 Taghkanic Road in the Taghkanic Fire District. The fire also burned the back of a barn, but that was quickly extinguished.
Taghkanic firefighters were on the scene while Northern Dutchess Paramedics stood by in their quarters and a deputy fire coordinator was on the scene along with State Police.
Preliminary investigation indicated the possible cause as discarded ashes.
