Corrected: An earlier story said the fire was in Rossie, in fact that was a different fire, the ongoing blaze is in the town of Macomb.

By JIMMY LAWTON

MACOMB  – A wildfire that rekindled Sunday in Macomb has prompted a state of emergency for the county according to Emergency Services Director Michael LeCuyer.

The state of emergency and burn ban will begin at 6 p.m. this evening. Details are expected to be announced this afternoon.

LeCuyer said nine fire departments battled the ongoing blaze for more than 12 hours Monday, but were unable to stop it from spreading. He estimates the fire has destroyed about five acres so far.

The recent dry weather is making things difficult for emergency responders.

LeCuyer’s said the fire, believed to have been started by a lightning strike, has been burning brush for weeks, but is now approaching a 50-acre pine forest.

“Our major concern right now is keeping it out of the pine forest. We want to get a perimeter around it and keep it from spreading,” he said.

A special meeting is being held this morning to figure out the best way to accomplish that task.

What LeCuyer said is the same fire, drew 50 firefighters to the scene on Friday, where responders dumped 250,000 gallons of water on to the fire.

On Friday firefighters from Brier Hill, Heuvelton, Gouverneur, Hammond, Lisbon, Rensselaer Falls, Oxbow, and Morristown fire departments were on-scene, along with, Gouverneur rescue and Morristown Fire Department Auxiliary helped battle the blaze.