NORWAY — A two-liter bottle of Pepsi, a gallon of milk and a six pack of beer may have kept a brush fire from getting out of control in woods off Crockett Ridge Road Thursday evening.

Firefighters from Norway and Paris doused the fire that was called in at about 5 p.m. and burned close to one-eighth of an acre of brush about a quarter of a mile from the road. No injuries were reported and no structures were ever threatened, said Fire Chief Dennis Yates shortly after returning to the station at 8 p.m.

Yates said his son, firefighter Tim Yates, was the first to arrive on the scene at 1050 Crockett Ridge Road and found fire had spread from an open campfire in the woods but there was no water to try to contain it. People at the scene had soda, milk and beer that was used to douse the flames.

“That’s the only liquid they had up there,” the chief said. Forestry trucks carrying 1,000 gallons of water from Norway and Paris arrived shortly after to wet down the area.

According to Yates, the unidentified property owner and another man were in the woods cutting a trail when they started to cook supper over the open campfire.

“It took off on them and got a little bit out of control,” he said of the fire which was fanned by winds in the scraggly brush.

“It just got away from them. Luckily they had cleared the property before,” Yates said.

West Paris covered for the Paris Fire Department during the three hours.

ldixon@sunjournal.com

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