SOUTHEAST — A fire in a backyard fire pit started by a resident touched off a brush fire that consumed nearly 3 acres in the woods off Foggintown Road and Meadowbrook Court yesterday afternoon, officials said.
"When we got there, about a 100-by-100-foot section of the woods was burning and then the wind picked up and it just took off," said Shawn Conrad, first assistant chief of the Brewster Fire Department.
Conrad said firefighters raked away debris around the perimeter of the area to create a fire line and attacked the blaze, beating it back in toward its center. The fire began shortly after 2 p.m. and took more than two hours to control, Conrad said.
One firefighter from a Connecticut department suffered a shoulder injury after falling down an embankment, Conrad said. Brewster was assisted by firefighters from Putnam Lake, Patterson and New Fairfield, with Carmel providing mutual aid. Several trucks had to be towed out of the area after getting stuck in mud, Conrad said.