A small brushfire that erupted in Bearsville on Monday prompted warnings by Woodstock firefighters that ashes from wood stoves can stay hot for days, sometimes even igniting full house fires.

This week’s fire started after ashes were dumped over a bank into a stoney area filled with old ash, brush, and leaves. Firefighters arrived quickly and prevented the fire spreading from a 30-by-50-foot section that it had already consumed.

It’s “not uncommon for people to put woodstove ashes out where they haven’t been extinguished,” said Captain Nashe Burke of Company 3 in Lake Hill. A decade ago, winds picked up stove ashes in a cardboard box on Cooper Lake Road, ignited the box and set the home on fire.

“People come up here and put their ashes out on Monday morning,” said First Assistant Woodstock Fire Chief Kevin Peters.” I explain to people that ashes will contain heat for a week.”

Residents should store ashes in a galvanized metal can with a locking lid for at least a week before dumping them and keep the lid closed, the firefighters said. A three-foot firepit is permitted, Peters said, but burning brush requires a town permit and state burn bans apply at certain times of year.All of New York State, including Ulster County, is classified as having a low risk of fire by the Department of Environmental Conservation.

Noah Eckstein is the editor-in-chief of The Overlook. Send correspondence to noah@theoverlooknews.com.