Last night around 8:00 PM Hopkinton Fire received a call from a neighbor reporting the smell of smoke coming from the woods near Echo Lake. Firefighters responded and walked the trails leading to the lake and discovered a large brush fire. Mutual aid from Milford, Franklin, Upton, Bellingham and Westborough was called in.

Firefighters worked to contain the blaze until darkness set in, forcing them to retreat. They regrouped this morning and continued their work. Using drones they were able to calculate the size of the fire at 14 acres. By 12:30 PM the fire was contained and teams were continuing to saturate the ground with water to ensure there was no possibility of reignition.

The trails leading to the fire were nearly impassible for a tanker truck. Hopkinton DPW assisted by clearing the path of rocks and debris. The firefighters then deployed tanker trucks to shuttle convoys of water to the site, each truck holding between 1,000 – 2,000 gallons. They also set up a series of floating pumps to leverage water from Echo lake.

The cause of the fire remains unknown but State fire investigators are on the scene.