BAINBRIDGE – Fire departments spanning three counties arrived to a scene many of them face year after year in early spring.

A brush fire that consumed a swath of nearly 20 acres of a side hill meadow and woods was called into the Chenango County 911 at 2:30 p.m.

“Luckily we had ample manpower through the mutual aid system and we were able to mobilize our resources and surround the fire quickly,” said Chenango County Fire Coordinator Matthew Beckwith who set up an incident command post at the base of hill near 2843 State Highway 7 in Bainbridge.

Beckwith indicated that at the time of the initial call, and shortly after when the first response crews arrived, the brush fire was approximately five-to-seven acres in size; “But that changed very quickly, as brush fires often do,” said the Fire Coordinator.

Wednesday's isolated wind gust topping out at about 25 miles-per-hour quickly escalated the incident and changed the direction of the fire's pah toward dwellings and a centuries-old dairy barn.

“It was pretty nerve wracking for a little while there, and our primary concern was saving the home and other structures that became threatened by the blaze,” said Beckwith.