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AUBURN — A hard-to-reach brush fire in the woods behind Taber’s Restaurant and Golf on Lake Shore Drive kept firefighters busy for more than five hours Monday.

The fire was reported after smoke was spotted between Lake Auburn and Taber’s, in a small section of woods known as Salmon Point, according to Battalion Chief Scott Hunter.

Hunter said the brush fire was “basically a replay” of last Friday’s brush fire, when about a quarter-acre burned at Salmon Point due to a campfire that had not been extinguished fully.

Along with firefighters bushwhacking through brush and crossing streams Monday afternoon to get to a woods fire near Tabers on Lake Shore Drive in Auburn, many were ferried over on boats from the Route 4 boat launch. A helicopter making water drops was also used. Russ Dillingham/Sun Journal

“That spot at Salmon Point is a pretty popular place for campfires,” Hunter said. “Right now, the forest ranger is leaning towards this brush fire being something similar.”

Some firefighters were ferried to Salmon Point on boats from the Route 4 boat launch, while others had to enter the woods from Taber’s and fight their way through the brush.

Hunter said a helicopter from the Maine Forest Service did “eight or 10 water drops” on the fire. After that, fire crews returned to the scene to make sure the fire was out.

Fire crews are planning to return to the scene at 5:30 a.m. Tuesday, Hunter said.

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This story will be updated.

Matthew Daigle is a court reporter at the Norway bureau of the Sun Journal and has worked for the company for more than six years. He covers the courts, Oxford County government, and the towns of Norway,...

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