View from Liberty Rock Park in Sloatsburg of Torne Mountain smoking.

The smell of smoke was everywhere in the air Tuesday, from Sloatsburg east to Suffern and Mahwah as Torne Mountain smoked and smoldered from brush fires.

Sloatsburg firefighter Pete Akey rakes out a fire ring.

Helicopters flew over Sloatsburg all afternoon and into the early evening, some dipping into the lower lake in the Pine Grove Lakes neighborhood, as the firefighting helicopters skimmed up water in their hanging bucket, refilling, to fly off again and dump water on the scattered fires burning across the south side of Torne Mountain.

The fire was reportedly called into the New York State Parks overnight Monday and area fire departments responded early Tuesday morning, after daylight. Harriman State Park, where Torne is located, is part of the Palisades Interstate Park land.

The Sloatsburg Fire Department was called in at approxmiately 7 a.m. Tuesday morning to back up the Hillburn Fire Department, which acted as lead on the incident. The Monsey, Tallman and Mahwah fire departments joined the fire fight as well. Hillburn Fire Chief Ed Kelly was in charge of the mountain operation and set up a command post along Torne Valley Road.

Reporter Steve Lieberman wrote in LoHud that some 100 firefighters in all fought the 85 acre fire throughout the day, writing that firefighters received “air support from helicopters out of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and one from Westchester County.”

Tallman firefighter Pat McKiernan works the Torne brush fire.

The SFD entered the valley with the department’s ATV and old reliable mini-pumper truck along Torne Valley Road and then hiked up to the power lines and grid at the foot of the mountain to rake and break the fire ring lines. Members of the department worked through the day, reportedly until after 4 p.m.

The brush fire spread through the brown and yellowed leaves and underbrush up the southeast side of Torne, leaving scorched ground and smoking fire rings in its wake.

By late afternoon, the top of Torne Mountain was a smokey surreal landscape, with much of the approach up the front side of the mountain blackened and smoking heavily while helicopters flew overhead, repeatedly circling the mountain as they dipped low and dropped buckets on the haze.

Firefighting helicopter above Torne.

The helicopters circled up to Pine Meadow Lake, making long laps around the mountain; the helicopters also collected water from Potake Lake in the Pierson Lake development adjacent to Sloatsburg as well as other local water sources.

LoHud reported that the fire’s cause remains under investigation, although Orange & Rockland spokesman Mike Donovan said that O&R helicopters helped with transmission line checks near where the fire possibly broke out on the eastern valley side of Torne.

A little rain is expected in the area Friday. The fire could continue to smolder in the dry underbrush until the sky offers a wet blanket of relief.

Some photos courtesy of the Sloatsburg Fire Department and Geoff Welch.