Brush Fire Under Investigation

The East Hampton Town fire marshal’s office is investigating a Friday brush fire in the woods near the railroad tracks off Spring Close Highway in East Hampton.

Firefighters from the East Hampton Fire Department were called at about 2:30 p.m. for a fire about 400 feet into the woods, along the edge of property that runs along the tracks. It is owned by the Bistrian family. Gerry Turza, the first assistant chief, said a “sizable area” of brush about 100 by 100 feet was ablaze.

The department’s brush truck was out of service after sustaining mechanical damage at a brush fire in Amagansett last week, so a brush truck from Amagansett was called in to help. In the meantime, East Hampton firefighters stretched hose lines into the woods and had most of the fire knocked down when Amagansett’s brush truck crew arrived to extinguish the rest.

Just shy of 3,000 gallons of water were used to put out the flames. A couple of big trees had to be cut down, the chief said. Conditions were dry and there was a slight breeze, the chief said, but he could not pinpoint a cause.

Tom Baker, the fire marshal investigating the fire, said on Monday that no cause had been determined so far.