Crews battle brush fire in Ferrisburgh

FERRISBURGH, Vt. (WCAX) – A brush fire burned Monday evening in Ferrisburgh as multiple departments responded to battle the blaze.

UVM Professor and Ferrisburgh resident Erica Andrus was driving home on Monday night when she saw the blaze. “I was driving from Burlington, and I could see the plume of smoke from quite far away… I was like, ‘our house isn’t on fire, is it?’”

When she arrived at her farm off of Route 7, close to the Vergennes border in Ferrisburgh, she saw the dark smoke, emergency vehicles, and firefighters.

The call came into the department at around 3:30 p.m.

“They did have a significant fire that was evolving. That’s when they started to call mutual aid. They called Ferrisburgh in first, and then we started calling in additional units. The fire was traveling rapidly.We had a lot of wind conditions that were actually pushing the fire,” said Ferrisburgh Fire Chief Bill Wager.

Wager said it’s the largest brush fire he’s seen in six years. Brush fires normally happen around this time of year, but it took 10 fire departments and 75 firefighters to get it contained. All of them were volunteers.

“Burning material is dry, but we’re also dealing with a swamp, so because it’s so wet, we’re having a hard time getting to the fire,” said Wager.

After three hours of fighting it, the fire has been contained, and crews will continue to monitor it throughout the night.

The cause of the fire is still under investigation. Fire officials warn Vermonters not to light any open fires, as conditions are still dry.

It’s one of at least three wildfires reported in the region on Monday. One was reported off Route 2 in Waterbury and another in Fairlee.