Early on Tuesday morning, and throughout the day, the Mason Fire Department, along with over 20 other crews, fought a four-alarm brush fire on Pratt Pond Road.

According to a release issued by the Mason Fire Department, at 5:39 a.m., the Mason Fire and EMS Department was alerted to the fire, and the first units on the scene immediately called for a first alarm. The alarm was raised to a fourth alarm, with the addition of the New Hampshire Forestry Task Force, due to the dry and windy conditions.

Mason Fire Chief Eric Rantamaki said he and his deputy chief were first on the scene.

“We rolled up, and the whole side of the road was on fire,” Rantamaki said. “It went from the power lines in, and it was a big, big chunk -- about six acres. It was a lot of fire, and it was getting closer and closer to the road as we waited for water to get there.”

Rantamaki said the dry conditions, the wind and the extent of the fire over hilly, rocky terrain resulted in raising the call to a fourth alarm. He said the fire was contained to wildlands, and though it approached the high-tension power lines, a rock wall acted as a firebreak, keeping the fire contained to wooded area.

“It was a lot of digging,” Rantamaki said. “You get a surface burn, and put it out, and it’s still burning underneath, six, eight, 10, 12 inches down. You need a lot more manpower, because you have to do a lot of digging before you can put water on the fire itself.”

Rantamaki said at the peak of response, there were just under 100 firefighters from 22 different departments on the scene. Wind was one of the biggest factors of the day, sparking up the fire and spreading it.

Crews concluded Tuesday’s efforts as it got dark, after containing and extinguishing the fire, but Rantamaki said crews were back on scene on Wednesday, checking for – and finding – additional smoldering hot spots where the fire was still burning underground.

Rantamaki said the cause of the fire is undetermined. Although crews did find evidence of a campfire near the center of the fire, he said there’s no way to know at this point when it was set up or used. He said current dry conditions result in high or very high fire danger ratings, depending on the wind, and warned against burning for any reason and being careless with hazards such as cigarette butts.

“The current fire danger is high, and yesterday was very high,” Rantamaki said Wednesday. “There’s no real change expected in the immediate future. There’s no rain in the extended forecast. As far as burning goes, don’t. That’s all I can say about that. Until we get a little bit of moisture, until we get rain or snow is on the ground, let’s not be doing any burning.”

Fire departments that responded included Greenville, Wilton, Brookline, Ashby, Townsend, Hollis, Amherst, Milford, Mont Vernon, New Ipswich, Jaffrey , Rindge, Lyndeborough, Nashua, Merrimack, Fitchburg, Lunenburg, Newmarket, Kingston, Stratham, Dover, Pepperell and the New Hampshire Division of Forest and Lands forest rangers. Also assisting were the Mason Police Department, Mason Highway Department, Hollis Dispatch and the Mason Board of Selectmen, who provided food and beverages for responders.

Annett State Park fire may have been caused by cigarette

On Sunday afternoon, Rindge and Jaffrey fire departments responded to Annett State Park off Cathedral Road in Rindge, where a brush fire was threatening one of the outbuildings.

“Someone passing by noticed it, thank God,” said Rindge Fire Chief Rick Donovan.

The fire was behind a bathroom building. Donovan said that when crews arrived, the fire was about 100 feet by 50 feet, and was growing. He said one of the main concerns was its proximity to the bathroom building. Crews were able to bring the fire under control within an hour.

Donovan said while the cause of the fire cannot be definitively determined, fire crews did locate a cigarette butt and a discarded pack of cigarettes in the area, and believe that may have been the initial cause.

“We believe someone, for whatever reason, stopped there to use the bathroom or picnic, went behind the building, and discarded their cigarette there,” Donovan said.

Donovan said conditions are ripe for ground fires, with low amounts of rain creating dry conditions that can penetrate several inches into the ground cover, as well as high winds, which wick off moisture from the ground and dry things out as much as three times faster than usual. That, coupled with low humidity rates, creates very dry conditions that won’t be solved by small amounts of rainfall, Donovan said.

“Do not burn anything, unless it’s a cooking fire,” Donovan said. “Not until we get a significant amount of rain.”

Donovan said that he has put off a live burn training for the department twice due to the conditions, and cautioned people to be extra cautious about fire hazards until the area sees a significant rainfall.

Ashley Saari can be reached at 603-924-7172, Ext. 244, or asaari@ledgertranscript.com. She’s on X @AshleySaariMLT.