LEWISTON  — Firefighters went into the woods next to the Veterans Memorial Bridge on Friday night to investigate a report of a burning tree.

Crews were sent out shortly after 9 p.m. after a caller reported flames shooting 15 feet into the air from the top of a blazing pine tree near Cottage Street.

Firefighters attempted to approach the tree from Cottage Street but found better access near the end of the bridge, in the area of the off ramp on the Lewiston side.

As crews responded and hoses were stretched into the woods, police were sent to control traffic along the bridge.

It was not known how the tree caught fire. Fire officials said they have been sent to that area in recent days for similar reports of burning trees and brush.

A network of trails snakes into the woods next to the bridge, some of them wending down to the Androscoggin River and the new walking path along it.

Firefighters remained at the scene at 11 p.m. Lewiston fire Investigator Paul Ouellette was sent to the scene to search for the cause.

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