COLUMBIA COUNTY, N.Y. (NEWS10) — Windy, dry conditions have raised concern among the Capital Region as fire crews were busy most of the day Tuesday battling fires. Area fire officials say some controlled burns got out of control and it pushed county leaders to act.
A state of emergency was declared in Columbia County as the board of supervisors enacted a burn ban that went into effect immediately. It will last until March 16th, when the New York burn ban begins.
In Stuyvesant one fire burned dangerously close to a home on County Route 21. “He said there’s a fire up there,” explained farmer Mike Eller when talking about a fire he had, just hours ago, help extinguish.
The farmer said his neighbor came to him and needed help. He said, “It must have been about 1:00 o’clock or so, somewhere in there” when the fire broke out.
And that is when he says he jumped into action telling NEWS10’s Reporter James De La Fuente, “I hooked up to the disc and drove up there and flattened it out. I drove right over top of it.”
De La Fuente questioned, “Right over it?”
“Yeah. It was mostly burned out. But it was like slowly creeping out,” answered Eller. He says he learned this technique from watching others who have used it before. “I see it out west. That happens there occasionally.”
In Craryville, some were not as lucky. The assistant fire chief there confirmed a brush fire destroyed two sheds and about 20 acres of land.
During these windy and dry conditions Mike Eller had some advice to share. “Just don’t burn anything at this time,” advised Eller.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by PostX News and is published from a syndicated feed.)
