HUGUENOT – Several Orange County fire departments have been called out to fight a brush fire in the Town of Deerpark.
The fire was reported late Wednesday morning in Shinhollow Road with over 20 acres involved, said Huguenot Fire Chief TJ Kalin.
Neighbor Vince Zemanek was very worried about the spread of the fire.
“We’ve been up here for over 70 years and this is the first time something like this has actually happened,” he said. “I come out every so often to look and it seems to be getting closer and closer.”
Pete Pesce, another neighbor, said the weather was not helping the sitution.
“The concern is that it keeps spreading. It’s very windy. It’s dry. We haven’t had any rain or snow in a while so that is a concern,” he said.
Some two hours after the initial call, additional fire departments were called in to help quell the flames.
Afternoon brush fires also burned New Hampton at County Route 12, 1226 River Road in New Windsor and 765 NY-100 in Yorktown.
In the City of Newburgh around 8 p.m., a brush fire burned on a hill on Lake Street.
Orange County Fire Coordinator Vini Tankasali said particularly in this dry, low humidity weather, be extra careful about outdoors fires.
“Discarding cigarettes properly, smoking devices such as cigarettes, matches – we see a lot of fires caused by that whether people are throwing cigarettes from windows, into leaves, or just trying to put them out in dry brush,” he said. “We do recommend also, people on their properties, especially around houses, that they remove any dried leaves or dried dead vegetation that may be surrounding the houses.”
And Tankasali said people should abide by the state outdoors burn ban which expires on May 14.
