Fires burn Lanesborough forest

By Scott Stafford, Berkshire Eagle Staff
Article Last Updated: 04/20/2008 04:45:54 AM EDT


Click photo to enlargeSmoke from the forest fires in Lanesborough yesterday could be seen in the mountains north of...«1»Sunday, April 20
LANESBOROUGH — An out-of-control brush fire in Lanesborough turned into a forest fire yesterday that spread north from Silver Street to scorch more than 300 acres as it headed toward Brodie Mountain Road.
The brush fire, which was reported at about 11:30 a.m., took more than 120 firefighters and 14 fire departments, along with the Department of Conservation and Recreation and burned into the night.

By 7:20 p.m. the firefighters had pulled out of the woods for the night, said Lanesborough Fire Chief Charles Durfee. The crews would be back in by 6 a.m. today to walk the perimeter of the burn area, cut down affected trees, and check on "hot spots," he added.

"I'm not going to put guys up in the woods at night," he said. "Too much risk of injury."

He said that there were no structures at risk from the fire, and that if it were left burning all night, there still shouldn't be any buildings in its path.

Durfee said he wanted to be in and out of the burn area no later than 10 a.m. today.

The U.S. National Weather Service was forecasting winds at 6 to 10 miles per hour, traveling from the southeast last night and today.

The blaze started at



122 Silver St. and was one of a spate of brush fires that were reported across Berkshire County yesterday as attempts to burn yard waste in dry, windy conditions went awry.
"(The resident) was burning brush when the wind came up, and off it went," said Durfee from the command center in the driveway of the house where it started.

By 12:30 p.m., it had "gone up the hill and had grown to a fire line about one-and-a-half miles wide," he said.

By that time, after more than 100 acres had been burned, five neighboring fire departments had responded to calls for mutual aid, and more than 30 firefighters worked in shifts to knock down the flames.

Because the fire was moving through an area with no roads, ATVs and other four-wheelers were being used to haul tanks of water to the fire line, with firefighters using hand cranks to pump the water into the blaze and rakes and chain saws to remove fuel from the fire's path.

By 5 p.m., seven more fire companies had responded to calls for help, with the number of firefighters swelling to more than 50, and a Massachusetts State Police helicopter was lending support as an eye in the sky.

The flames were moving through the Lanesborough woods near the Hancock town line and close enough to Jiminy Peak to cause concern.

Brian Fairbank, president and CEO of the mountain resort, said they mobilized 10 workers with hoses attached to the snowmaking water system in case the fire changed direction.

"We asked the Hancock Fire Department if they wanted help, and they said yes," Fairbank said from his post at the summit. "We're up here, and we're ready, but it doesn't seem to be heading this way. It looks like it's about 500 to 600 yards from here, but we can't see any intense smoke coming this way."

Throughout the county, brush fires were spreading out of control, four of them in Pittsfield, at least one in Hinsdale and another in Becket.

"I would say just about every town in the county has either their own brush fire or was sending mutual aid to other towns," said state Trooper Michael O'Neil from the state police barracks in Cheshire.

"The (police scanner) was going wild," he said. "Turns out today was a bad day to burn brush — just put water on it, put it out, go inside and have a beer or something. Call it lessons learned."

In Pittsfield, Deputy Fire Chief Mark Cancilla said that fires can spread quickly in dry conditions with wind.

And according to state regulations, it is illegal to burn yard waste within 75 feet of a structure.

"The best thing to do if you're burning brush is to have a charged hose nearby and to stay with the fire," he said.

In dry conditions, he added, it is also a good idea to use the hose to wet down the area surrounding the fire.