Update (May 6) on the Roosa Gap Fire (Ulster/Sullivan Counties NY)

The fire that I only recently learned is being called the Roosa Gap fire that I first wrote about on May 5th remains at 75 percent containment, having burned about 2,400 acres in and near the Shawangunk Ridge State Forest in Ulster and Sullivan Counties NY (see The Journal News, May 6 at 9:12 AM (with photos) and The Record Online (May 6 update, 12:29 PM).

I don't why I did not like at Bill Gabbert's Wildfiretoday yesterday, but I did today and saw that he started reporting on the Roosa Gap fire on May 4th with the last update being May 6 at 10:18 EDT, be sure to check out Bill's reporting on the Roosa Gap fire where if you scroll down a bit you will a map that he has done. I did some checking earlier today, and while I did see a that the Eastern Area Coordinating Center including the Roosa Gap fire in reports on their intelligence page (which is where I learned of the name of the fire), the stats about the fire on their large incident report was a couple of days old so I did not use it here.

While I have read other media reports that the cause of the fire may have been an illegal debris burn (for example: The Journal News, May 6 at 9:12 AM (with photos)  and  ABC7 in NYC (May 6 with video). However, The Record Online (May 6 update, 12:29 PM) is reporting that "The state Department of Conservation is still investigating the cause of the fire but has not released any other information regarding how it started and whether any tickets or violations will be issued."

According to report on Syracuse dot com (updated on May 6, 8:53 AM) our friends from the National Weather Office in Binghamton NY "sent a meteorologist to give on-the-scene forecasts to emergency crews."

The Record Online (May 6 update at 12:29 PM) reported that our friends from Canada (thank-you!!) sent an airanker to help. She worked the fire yesterday. NY National Guard Blackhawk helicopters and a couple of other NY State helicopters have been working the fire as well. I understand that wind and light rain may have shut down air operations this morning.

For those of you who are interested, yes I have seen mention of the Roosa Gap fire on some NYC TV news outlets (online reporting) including:

ABC7 - May 6, 8:04 AM EDT, with video
MyFoxNY - May 5, 3:35 PM EDT
CBS2 NY - May 5, 4:07 PM
NBC4 NY - May 3 video and May 6 report

Stay safe everyone!