Crews from at least 10 towns responded to New Ipswich on Saturday afternoon for a brush fire that grew into a four-alarm call for manpower and water resources.
New Ipswich Fire Chief Meredith Lund said her department was initially alerted to the brush fire at around 2 p.m., after residents reported seeing smoke in the woods between Appleton Road and Gibbs Avenue.
Crews located the brush burning about 500 feet from the Gibbs Avenue roadway, Lund said.
“That’s just when the wind started picking up,” Lund said.
New Ipswich is just off a high fire danger warning, but Lund said it’s likely the fire had already been burning as long as several days before it started to spread significantly. When crews found the burning area, it had already grown to about an acre and a half of wooded area, Lund reported, and while most of the fire was on surface-level debris, there were areas where it had burned down deep into tree roots.
“It’s been burning for a while,” Lund said.
Fire crews called for more manpower to try to cut a containment line, but wind conditions pushed the fire and it grew to three-plus acres before a control line was established. The fire reached a fourth alarm before the containment line was complete, with the main need being manpower, Lund said, and then additional tankers and water.
Crews set up engines near nearby residences, but the fire didn’t seriously threaten any homes, Lund said. Crews have not determined a cause for the fire.
As of 4:30 p.m., crews were still on the scene dousing the fire and digging out embers. No one had been injured, Lund said, though the Souhegan Valley Ambulance stood by to assist with injuries or exhaustion from working in the heat.
Crews from Lyndeborough, Ashby, Dublin, Rindge, Temple, Peterborough, Jaffrey, Greenville, Wilton and Milford assisted at the scene, as well as representatives from the State Division of Forest and Lands.
Ashley Saari can be reached at 924-7172 ext. 244 or asaari@ledgertranscript.com. She’s on Twitter @AshleySaariMLT.