Crews are working to battle a wildfire in Rensselaer County that's spread into northwestern Massachusetts.
The wildfire has grown to cover roughly 198 acres as of Monday evening, with flames reaching up to two feet, New York State and Rensselaer County officials said. Officials say the fire is 50% contained.
Smoke from the fire is minimal, and no homes are at risk.
The fire, originally covering about 1.5 acres, was discovered by residents in the Town of Berlin Sunday morning. Since then, dozens of firefighters from New York, Massachusetts and nearby Vermont have been working to control the blaze with the help of water drops from two New York State helicopters.
To reach the fire, crews have to travel a mile and a half down a trail and then hike another mile into the woods, a "tedious" journey that makes containing the fire difficult, state and county officials say.
Outside of a Berlin restaurant that fire crews are using as a base of operations, the fire's remote location was making containment difficult.
"The biggest challenges that we're facing right now is just the extremely difficult terrain and the difficult access into the fire," Forest Ranger Lt. Eric Stratton with New York's Department of Environmental Conservation told reporters from outside the Berlin restaurant where firefighters set up a base of operations. "The crews are working very hard to secure a line. They're reinforcing control lines. They are constructing control lines, and they're going direct on the fire whenever they can."
Forest fires in the area are "fairly common" given the time of year and weather conditions, according to Stratton.
"We haven't had any rain lately, so with the leaf fall that we've had right now, it's just burning in leaf litter," Stratton said.
Officials are also asking members of the public to avoid the Taconic Crest Trail south of State Highway 2.
