Campfire ignites 32-acre brush fire

On March 30, at about 5:30 p.m., the Monroe Fire Department was called to Candle Road to battle a brush fire that was spreading near the radio tower at the end of the road. Several local fire districts responded with brush firefighting equipment, including those from Chester, Greenwood Lake, Warwick, Goshen, Woodbury, and Tuxedo.

At 7 p.m., the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation and the Monroe Fire Department requested forest ranger assistance with the wildfire, as it had reportedly spread from private land to state land. Rangers Philip Parlier, Paul Quinones, John Rusher, and Tim Schweider created a perimeter line around the 32-acre fire.

By 12:30 a.m., the rangers had the fire under control. According to the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation’s report, rangers later declared the fire “in patrol status” and determined that the cause was “a campfire that had grown out of control.” No injuries were reported.

The region is currently under a burn ban notice due to the area’s dry winter brush and seasonal winds, meaning any spark from a fire could fly to a pile of leaves or twigs and ignite, causing a brush fire. The ban on burning brush and lawn debris runs through May 14.