Smoking hot
By Caitlyn Kelleher JOURNAL REPORTER

Crews from Barre Fire attempt to extinguish Railroad Ties that were burning from a brush fire that spanned from Westminster into Fitchburg along the train tracks. Crews from all around Central Massachusetts and the State Forestry Service were called in to assist Westminster and Fitchburg battle the blaze. (See story on page 5.)

From Monday through Wednesday, Westminster and Fitchburg firefighters fought brush fires around the railroad tracks in the eastern part of town.

Fire scorched 65 acres off Turnpike Roth including less than 10 acres in Fitchburg. It took nearly 100 firefighters to extinguish the blazes, which continued to smolder for about eight hours on Monday afternoon after a train's exhaust sparked them on the way from Fitchburg to Westminster.

"It starts all of these (little) fires and then it grows," Westminster Fire Chief Brenton MacAloney said. "We had this happen already this spring."

The high temperatures and low humidity on Monday provided ideal brush fire conditions, MacAloney said.

Firefighters came from as close as Ashburnham and Gardner and as far way as Sturbridge and Warren. MacAloney said the goal of the mutual aid system is to help each other in situations like this but that such a large brush fire puts a strain on the system. Other departments were assisting in Fitchburg.

MacAloney, who brought the rail company - now operating as Pan Am Railways - to court last year, again will try to recoup some of the expense of fighting the brush fire. The department spent more than $12,000 on manpower on Monday.

"They are negligently responsible for the fires they set," he said.

MacAloney said if the the exhaust systems were properly set up then there should not be a problem with westbound trains, and if the trains were not going as fast then there should not be a problem with eastbound trains.

"I am still trying to get equipment back in service," MacAloney said Wednesday.

Two Gardner firefighters were sent to the hospital with minor injuries.