Volunteer firefighters battled a brush fire in Calverton for nearly two hours this afternoon.
The fire, in the woods on the west side of the Calverton shooting range, was sparked by a stray chaser shell fired on the range, Riverhead Fire Chief Joe Raynor said in a phone interview.
A tracer is a bullet or cannon caliber projectile that has a small pyrotechnic charge at its base, according to Wikipedia. When fired, the gun powder ignites the pyrotechnic, which burns very brightly, making the projectile visible to the naked eye. This enables the shooter to make aiming corrections without observing the impact of the rounds fired and without using the sights of the weapon, according to the online encyclopedia.
“It’s like shooting fire,” Raynor said.
The alarm came in at about 1:30, the chief said.
The fire got up into the trees and with a strong breeze blowing, there was a serious risk of it getting out of control in the heavily wooded area. Raynor called in Flanders, Eastport and Manorville on mutual aid. RFD deployed two brush trucks, a pumper, a tanker and a utility truck, the chief said.
“Fortunately we got it before it got out of control,” Raynor said.
He released all firefighters from the scene just before 3:30 p.m.
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