ORANGE — Eight Franklin County fire departments sent engines to help combat a brush and mulch fire in Ashby on Wednesday.
Using Walmart in Orange as “the rendezvous point for a District 9 Task Force activation,” responding agencies convened beginning at around noon, according to a statement from the Orange Fire Department.
Greenfield, Deerfield, Shelburne, Northfield, Leverett, Gill, Conway and Rowe fire departments each responded with an engine. The Turners Falls Fire Department led the response, despite not sending an engine.
Kyle Cogswell, acting deputy chief of the Turners Falls Fire Department, said in the early afternoon that around 20 fire engines from Ashby and nearby communities were already on scene. Greenfield Fire Chief Robert Strahan added that Hampshire County departments would be responding with a task force as well.
“A task force is activated when all area mutual aid is depleted, and the incident is going to be prolonged,” the Orange Fire Department’s statement reads. “The state has a Fire Mobilization Plan that dictates who, and what kind of apparatus responds so as to not drain all immediate resources.”
The Orange Fire Department attributed the fire to ongoing drought conditions.
Reach Julian Mendoza at 413-772-0261, ext. 261 or jmendoza@recorder.com.