Brush fire burns for third day near Dutchess-Putnam border

A large brush fire burned for a third straight day Sunday near the Dutchess-Putnam border.

News 12 Staff

Sep 22, 2019, 8:35 PM

Updated 1,922 days ago

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A large brush fire burned for a third straight day Sunday near the Dutchess-Putnam border.
At times, the smoke coming from Sugarloaf Mountain could be seen over the Hudson River by people in Newburgh.
It’s currently a joint effort between a number of agencies, including the New York State Park Police and Department of Conservation, to get the 25-acre brush fire under control.
The fire has been burning since Friday evening and continues to smolder on top of a very steep ridge inside of Hudson Highlands State Park.

News 12 spoke to Park Police Lt. Michael Cahill, who says that’s part of what makes the mission so difficult. He says it’s nearly impossible to get to the fire line on foot - the closer first responders get to the fire line, the steeper the incline.
Responders are instead relying on aviation units to drop water from helicopters.
“We have well over 50% of the containment line in, we are very hopeful that by the end of this operational period, we're going to be hitting somewhere 80-90% containment,” says Cahill.