At 5:03pm on Tuesday, November 5th, Hastings Volunteer Fire Department was dispatched for a brush fire at the St Andrew’s Golf Club at 10 Old Jackson Ave.

Upon arrival Assistant Chiefs Mike Gunther and Frank DeSouza located a large area of land burning and traveling up the hillside. Approximate size was 300’ x 300’ and within 1000’ of the nearest residential structure.

Arriving soon after, Chief Brian Schnibbe established an area for a command post and directed incoming apparatus, Engine 46 and Engine 45 to head up the golf course service road to the fire to start the fire attack. Engine 46 first grabbed a fire hydrant and followed Engine 45 into the course, crews from both units when to work on fire suppression.

Additional resources were called for by Chief Schnibbe, bringing the Ardsley Fire Department with two engines. At the same time Assistant Chief John Lindner had established an additional access point for suppression from above. Ardsley fire units stretched their fire hose 750+ feet to operate a water monitor to prevent further spread.

All the above was being set up while crews from all fire companies, including Engine 44 and members from Ladder 22, made a coordinated attack to contain the fire. Along with scene lighting and overhaul tools from Rescue 100.

The Battalion Coordinator from Westchester County arrived and suggested additional crews from other neighboring towns, which was then requested. An engine from both Irvington and Dobbs Ferry arrived with their UTV gators and crews to assist in fire attack and then overhaul of the land (raking, shoveling, cutting of trees)

An engine from Tarrytown was requested to stand by in Hastings while brush fire operations continued.

The fire was primarily knocked down within thirty minutes and deemed under control within the hour. Crews overhauled areas for an additional hour and a half including the packing up of hundreds of feet of fire hose.

A terrific response from the Hastings Fire Department and neighboring departments.

A reminder to all, NYS is experiencing a very dry fall season with the risk of brushfires remaining very high. See this attached link for more info.

https://dec.ny.gov/news/press-releases/2024/11/dec-declares-drought-watch-for-15-new-york-counties