ALBANY TOWNSHIP — Firefighters from six departments spent Thursday morning finishing dousing a woods fire off Patte Brooke Road that was discovered Wednesday after apparently smoldering for several days, Greenwood Fire Chief Al Curtis said.
Nine fire departments responded over a 20-hour period Wednesday and Thursday to the blaze that burned two to two-and-a-half acres.
Curtis said neighbors near the Portland Natural Gas Transmission System pipeline, which crosses the road, said they had been smelling smoke for several days but could not locate the source. On Wednesday at about 3 p.m. someone spotted the fire near the tree line of the pipeline.
The site is near the White Mountain National Forest.
“We had to dig down 2½ to 3 feet to get to it in some places,” he said.
Twenty-five firefighters responded from Greenwood, Bethel, Newry, Waterford, Woodstock and South Paris, Curtis said, as well as the Maine Forest Service. Four tankers shuttled water from Patte Brook.
The firefighters stayed until around 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Curtis said, and told neighbors to call 911 if it flared up again.
Curtis said they knew they would have to return Thursday morning to complete the work. Greenwood, South Paris, Norway, Woodstock, Stoneham and Mexico sent a total of 32 firefighters at about 6 a.m. Greenwood, the department overseeing the operation, was the last to leave at about 11:30 a.m., he said.
Curtis said the Forest Service is investigating the cause.
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