Fire Breaks Out in Tree Stump in Downtown Nyack

One block of Piermont Avenue closed briefly

BY BILL DEMAREST

NYACK – Fire broke out in a tree stump Tuesday in downtown Nyack this afternoon, leading to the brief shut down of a section of Piermont Avenue.

The fire was spotted just after noon on Piermont Avenue just before the corner of Main Street. A Tappan Zee Bridge construction crew passing by tried to put the fire out, along with a passing worker from the Nyack Water Department. However, a thick cloud of smoke erupted from the old tree.

Volunteers of the Nyack Fire Department used rakes to break open the tree stump and then hosed down the inside of the tree and its debris. The firefighting effort closed Piermont Avenue from Main Street to Burd Street for about 30 minutes.

An Orangetown police officer blocked one end of the street as the truck from Empire Hook and Ladder Co. No. 1 blocked the other side of the street. The tree stump is located along a row of hedges at the edge of a private parking lot at the corner of Main Street and Piermont Avenue.

No one was injured in the incident.