A fire that burned 12 to 15 acres at the exclusive Morefar Golf Club on April 22, 2014 likely began when high tension wires rubbed against tree branches amid dry conditions, officials said.
About 75 firefighters from six departments were called to quell the wind-whipped blaze on a steep mountain of Memorial Drive overlooking the course on the Connecticut border about 2 p.m..
The wind drove it up the mountain, said Brewster Fire Chief Bill Rieg.
No one was injured during the four hours it took for crews to beat back the flames.
The golf club's maintenance crew reported the fire after hearing branches rubbing against the wires, which sparked a blaze that spread once the embers fell to the dry forest floor, Rieg said.
In addition to using rakes and shovels to help contain the perimeter of the fire and prevent it from spreading, crews from Brewster, New Fairfield, Putnam Lake, Patterson, Lake Carmel and Danbury's Mill Plain put down several thousand feet of hose, using a pond as a water source because the area lacks water hydrants, Rieg said.
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