Wildfires, Prescribed Fires and the Burn Ban
The annual burn ban is still in effect until May 14th in New York State. Some may question: then why is the Department of Environmental Conservation lighting prescribed fires? The short answer is that...
View ArticleRangers Respond To Campground Fire, Ticket Loud Camper, Illegal Dumper
New York State Forest Rangers were busy with law enforcement activities last weekend as they caught an illegal dumper on Long Island, ticketed a camper for playing loud music in Chenango County, and...
View ArticleFake News: Augsburg, New York City & The American Revolution
Augsburg is spectacular city in Bavaria with a rich history in finance and culture. It was home to the Fugger family of bankers who rose to become a global powerhouse of capitalism in the space of just...
View ArticleInstruments of War: The Great New York Fire of 1776
When we think about the American Revolution, textbooks, documentaries, and historic sites have trained most of us to think about American triumphs in battles or events when American revolutionaries...
View ArticleFire Danger Reaches Extreme as State Rolls Out New Fire Danger System
As unusually warm and dry fall weather pushes the Fire Danger to HIGH across the entire state, new real-time weather data tool to help inform New Yorkers when there is an increased risk of wildfires...
View ArticleOne Of Sullivan County’s Most Destructive Fires
Brush fires have been much in the news of late, and those familiar with Sullivan County history have been moved to recall massively destructive wildfires from years gone by, including the May, 1884...
View ArticleThe Day FDR’s Hyde Park Mansion Caught Fire
After President Franklin Delano Roosevelt lost the use of his legs, his son Eliott wrote that his father had a fear of fire. He regularly practiced escaping from their family home, Springwood, in Hyde...
View ArticleThe Night Fort William Henry Burned A Second Time
It was a typical mid-September day at Lake George, New York. Much like a Georgia O’Keeffe painting, the surrounding hillsides were aglow in goldenrod, apricot, and crimson colors. A few hours later on...
View ArticleThe Firehouses of Albany Highlights A Rich Firefighting History
A new book, The Firehouses of Albany, by Albany City Historian and Director of Albany Firefighters Museum Tony Opalka, showcases images, maps, rich history, and anecdotes surrounding the historic...
View ArticleDawson’s: The Alplaus Kill’s Last Mill
Local historian W. Bronson Taylor once observed that the three essentials of the early pioneers of western Saratoga County were “a grist mill, a sawmill, and whiskey still.” While there is little...
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