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Firefighters look for rain to dampen recent Harriman Park fire

Posted on 15 November 2016 by Editor

welcome-to-harrimanGorden Wren’s partial plea for a “good drenching rain” to put out the recent Harriman State Park brush fires was answered by Mother Nature Tuesday.

Wren, Rockland County’s Fire Director, has directed the county’s combined efforts that, along with other NY State fire agencies, have worked to tamp down two Harriman Park fires that started Sunday, November 13 — one in the vicinity of Pine Meadow Lake and one near the Orange County line at Tom Jones Mountain.

The fires were kicked up and made worse be the weekend winds. The results of Tuesday’s rain on the fire won’t be known until after it ends, or possibly even Wednesday.

According to Richard Bayne, writing in the Recordonline.com, the Tom Jone Mountain fire has burned approximately 440 acres of the woody Ramapo Mountains on the Orange County side — in all the fire has consumed some 500 acres of brush and trees.

Orange County Fire Coordinator Vini Tankasali said in the Recordonline report that despite Tuesday’s rain, the park fire may still smolder on the ground:

“The fire burns in the ground,” Tankasali said. “The rain doesn’t extinguish it, like some people think. And with the heat, the water sometimes dissipates as steam before it can get to the fire.”


 

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