A wildfire on the side of a mountain off Route 214 has consumed some 200 acres in the Greene County hamlet of Lanesville.
The blaze broke out Thursday; water is being collected from Schoharie Reservoir by a specialized airplane that’s using it to douse the fire from the air.
Adam Bosch is DEP's Director of Public Affairs: "Not only are we doing this because it's the right thing to do to help out our neighbors here in the Catskills, but also these forests in the New York City watershed are incredibly important. Forests comprise about 78% of the land that surrounds New York City's six reservoirs in the Catskills."
Governor Andrew Cuomo dispatched state emergency crews to help firefighters at the scene. The govenor said the fire was about 30 percent contained as of Friday afternoon.
The Catskill Daily Mail says investigators believe a falling limb hit a high-tension power line, causing sparks to fly off and quickly ignite the dry brush on the ground below.
Here's a video of the fixed-wing airplane gliding across Schoharie Reservoir as it scoops up water to fight the forest fire at Hunter Mountain. The airplane has made many successful passes to gather water and douse the fire since air operations began this morning.