ALTONA — Crews from several area fire departments battled a machinery fire at an isolated logging site Thursday afternoon.
West Chazy firefighters were called to the woods between Military Turnpike and Murtaugh Hill Road at about 2:30 p.m. after the fire was reported.
Within an hour, volunteers and equipment from Altona, Beekmantown, Morrisonville and Ellenburg Depot fire departments were called in to help douse the flames.
West Chazy Fire Chief Dave Lucia said flames sparked inside a feller buncher machine and quickly consumed the expensive piece of equipment.
With the machine parked about three miles into the woods, volunteers initially had a difficult time accessing the rural site.
"It was just hard to get to ... we could only get in with four-wheel drive," Lucia said.
When water refused to quell the flames, volunteers used brush trucks to haul in fire-suppressant foam and were able to contain the blaze to the machine.
Lucia said the fire did not spread into the nearby forest.
Firefighters remained in the woods for about three hours as Chazy volunteers provided standby support.
The feller buncher is owned by Carson Logging from Willsboro and valued at about $120,000.
— By Staff Writer Andrea VanValkenburg
