Article from Times Herald Record
May 03, 2006
60 firefighters up against odds in Catskills fire
By Jeremiah Horrigan and Deb Medenbach
Kerhonkson - Sixty firefighters tried to stop a raging forest fire that was expected to consume more than 1,000 acres of state park land yesterday.
Do those sound like good odds to you? Then consider this: New York's Central Park is 843 acres: 6 percent of Manhattan's real estate.
Those are the kind of odds - 60 up against 1,000 - these volunteers are up against in the Catskill wilderness.
As of last night, the fire had already burned more than 850 acres, according to the Ulster County Sheriff's Office.
Such is the life of a volunteer firefighter in the season that brings brush fires coursing through mountains and fields.
When there's a fire on the mountain like the one that's burning through its third day in the Catskill State Park, it's not like you pull out a fire hose and put out the blaze. You dig ditches and watch which way the wind blows.
Fighting a brush fire is as close to a military operation as you'll find outside of Iraq. You're always trying to keep ahead of an unpredictable and dangerous enemy.
Even the words used to describe the fire sound military: Containment. Fire suppression. Putting up a perimeter. It's hard, back-breaking work.
Pat Davis, the assistant chief of Accord Company No. 1, rubbed his face. He had just returned from the fire line. He looked tired. He'd been on the scene all day and most of the previous day.
"We get a break at night; we get to go home. It's too risky doing this at night," he said.
Gisella Volz was sweeping out her yard along Upper Cherrytown Road. Behind her, a giant plume of gray smoke rose.
"It's scary," she said. "We have fires a lot."
The only thing keeping her calm yesterday was that the fire wasn't as threatening as it had been five years ago, when a similar brush fire lit up the skies behind her house.
The fire was being fought on two separate fronts yesterday.
Relatively dry conditions and a steady wind made containment difficult, according to Ulster County Fire Coordinator Charles Mutz.
When the fire is finally history, it will be because of firefighters wielding rakes, hoes, shovels, and chain saws, he said.
Mutz said yesterday he hoped most of the fire would be contained by nightfall and that crews would be able to start mopping up by today. If the weather stays sunny, it could take longer.
"Tough work," he said with a shake of his head. "It's real tough work."
Photos by Upper Cherrytown Resident:
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