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Oakdale Lake blaze under investigation

Hudson-Catskill Newspapers

HUDSON — Hudson firefighters put in some atypical duty Friday night. Instead of smoke-filled rooms, they were picking their way through smoke-filled woods, brandishing chain saws and pike poles along with their hoses.

Firefighters were returning from a call at Bliss Towers when they saw the sky filled with gray smoke just down the hill from the main fire house. The smoke from a fire in the woods just south of Oakdale Lake on the east side of Sixth Street.

“The smoke was above the trees,” said Hudson High School junior Frank Werner of Clinton Street. “You couldn’t see the sky.”

The fire covered half-an-acre when HFD arrived at about 8:25 p.m., said Fire Chief Paul Beaumont. It was spreading along the ravine, heading for 130 N. Sixth St. Charred earth at the edge of the woods adjacent to that property shows the reach of the fire.

“It was really burning good right here,” said Safety Officer Chuck Hoffman, pointing to the woods around the charred earth. “When we made that turn into the firehouse, we said, ‘I think we got a fire.’”

To the east, “it came right up to the Oakdale garage,” Beaumont said.

“We surrounded it and killed it before it got to the garage,” he said. “If we were two minutes slower, it would have been a different story.”

Hoses were sprayed over the woods to douse the fire and prevent its spread. The pike poles were used to check for sparks.

The hardest part, Hoffman said, was coming back up from the swamp in the ravine.

“Let the young puppies get down in the swamp,” he said. Two of the ‘puppies’ were firefighters Evan Schwartz and David Charron.

“It was dark, hot and smoking,” Schwartz said. “You were trying to catch your breath.”

Crews returned to the firehouse by about 9 p.m.

First Assistant Fire Chief Robert Pulver attributed the fire to the recent lack of rain. It’s actually not that unusual, he said. Two weeks ago the department had to go down in the ravine behind Glenwood Boulevard to fight a tree fire.

Hudson Police officers were questioning youths in the area. Beaumont said the cause of the fire is under investigation.

To reach reporter John Mason, call 518-828-1616, ext. 2272, or e-mail jmason@registerstar.com.

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