More than 20 firefighters from four local volunteer fire companies responded mid-afternoon on Monday, March 9, to a pesky brush fire fanned by a steady breeze blowing across a steep hill overlooking Farrell Road in Hawleyville.

The firefighters then worked to extinguish the progressing flames that swept through a wooded area near 39 Farrell Road. Hawleyville, Hook & Ladder, Dodgingtown, and Sandy Hook volunteers participated at the scene. Hawleyville Deputy Fire Chief Paul Basso was incident commander. Botsford firefighters were placed on standby at their firehouse.

Firefighters approached the rugged terrain as plumes of dense white smoke rose up from the hillside. The incident occurred on the west side of Farrell Road, between its intersections with Hawleyville Road (Route 25) and Patricia Lane.

The accidental fire, which was reported at 2:47 pm, occurred near the parallel Iroquois and Algonquin natural gas transmission pipelines. There were no injuries. No structures were damaged by the blaze, which began behind a house at 39 Farrell Road.

“They used quite a lot of water there...They tankered it in,” said Hawleyville Fire Chief John Basso of the need to drive fire tanker trucks to the area to provide firefighting water. About 7,500 gallons of water were required to put out the flames.

One of the most difficult aspects of getting the fire out was ascending the very steep terrain to get to the wooded area that was afire.

Deputy Fire Marshal Jamilynn Zapata said that a man who lives at 39 Farrell Road had started a fire in a fire pit in his back yard to get rid of an old Christmas tree. The man had broken up the tree into segments before igniting it, but after it caught fire, the flames started traveling across the terrain on the breezy day, she said.

The unidentified man then called firefighters for help to put out the blaze. He used a garden hose in seeking to control the fire’s spread, Zapata noted.

Zapata urged that before igniting such recreational fires, residents check with the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection or the Newtown Emergency Communications Center at 203-426-5841 to find out if weather conditions are suitable.