There was a bit of excitement today on the Ridge in New Paltz. More specifically if you were anywhere near the West side of New Paltz or High Falls today you may have seen smoke close to the Mohonk Mountain House.

I haven't seen any reports of people worried about seeing the smoke on the Ridge today but I am thinking if you were anyway in the area you most likely saw what was, unfortunately, a car on fire at the Mohonk Mountain House Gate.

Fire at the Gatehouse for the Mohonk Mountain House in New Paltz, NY

New Paltz Fire Department Via Facebook - Car Fire
New Paltz Fire Department Via Facebook - Car Fire
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On a day like today, you can see for miles so there is a good chance many people saw the black billowing smoke that was being emitted by the car fire that took place right at the Mohonk Mountain House Gatehouse. The report I saw online from the New Paltz Fire Department included the video below.

As you can see in the video it appears that the car had just gotten to the gate and fortunately was able to clear the gate area before going up in full flames. About 10 seconds into the video you hear the tires pop due to the fire. If the car had been under the gatehouse the incident could have been worst.

New Paltz Fire Department Via Facebook - Car Fire
New Paltz Fire Department Via Facebook - Car Fire
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The post on Facebook from the New Paltz Fire Department does not include a reason why the car caught fire but there could be a number of reasons. According to Auto How Stuff Works there can be as many as ten common reasons for a car to catch fire. Everything from a design flaw to poor maintenance to simply the car overheating.

Common Reasons Cars Catch on Fire

The good news is that the New Paltz Fire Department assisted by the Mohonk Fire Dept - Lake Mohonk Hose Co #1 and the New Paltz Police Dept was able to extinguish the flames without any major damage to anything but the car involved.  No one was injured either according to the report. After battling fires earlier this year on the Shawangunk Ridge I am sure it is a relief to our local firefighters that this incident was dealt with quickly and contained to the Mohonk Parking lot.

New Paltz Fire Department Via Facebook - Car Fire
New Paltz Fire Department Via Facebook - Car Fire
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