Massachusetts Crews Get Forest Fire Under Control

LEE, Mass. - More than 200 firefighters from 22 departments got a forest fire in East Lee under control around 6:40 p.m. on Thursday. The fire, touched off when a brush burn got out of control around 1 p.m., singed more than 30 acres of land and had threatened power transmission lines and kept some nearby homeowners on edge.

Several fire departments from Adams to Sheffield to Middlefield were called in to assist the Lee Fire Department to douse the fire that scorched the hillside between Sharyn Drive and Lander Road and jumped a ridge line at October Mountain.

Lee Fire Chief Alan Sparks said fire crews will stand by the scene overnight because hot spots still exist, triggering the fire anew.

There have been no injuries reported and no structures are threatened.

However, the fire and heavy smoke did cross into the path of the transmission lines just below the ridge line belonging to Western Mass Electric Co. WMECO crews were on the scene making sure the power lines - supported by wooden poles - remain unscathed, according to fire officials at the scene.

Several residents living near the fire scene kept a wary eye on the fire that managed to avoid their homes.

Pat MacDowell of Lander Road lives next to the clearing for the transmission lines and was unsure if she might have to evacuate her house.

"I called [my daughter] and said, 'Come get my stuff,'" she said.

When her daughter, Nicky Choquette, arrived, she could see why her mother was worried.

"You could see the smoke come upon the clearing and within minutes cut across the [utility] poles," Choquette said.

MacDowell added, "The smoke was so thick, you couldn't see the flames until the smoke cleared."

The fire started shortly before 1 p.m. on the property of Charles Garrity Sr., off Sharyn Drive. His son, Charles Garrity Jr. said he was burning a pile of brush, when a "gust of wind" spread the fire up the steep, rocky hill behind his father's house. Garrity noted he had a hose at the ready, but couldn't extinguish the fire.

Despite the extremely dry conditions, Garrity had permission to burn brush.

"He had a burning permit, but the fire got way from him," Sparks said.

Firefighters have several hoses running into the woods from pumper trucks and are having to battle the blaze by hand.

By later afternoon, the white smoke could still be seen billowing above the treetops hundreds of feet in the air.