On Tuesday, August 9th, Canton Fire was requested through a county-wide mutual aid request for personnel to respond to the wildland fire that had been burning in Morristown for nearly two weeks. Surrounding departments were on-scene battling the stubborn fire for the past six days, without much personnel relief. A request was placed to the county for a mutual aid response of personnel to relieve those crews on-scene from St. Lawrence and Jefferson Counties. NY State Fire and NYS DEC personnel were on-scene helping to advise and assist the fire crews in battling the fire and preventing it from spreading.

According to numerous reports, the fire was caused by a lightning strike that started some brush on fire. The fire continued to spread and all was being done to prevent the fire from reaching a pine forest nearby.

As this fire was raging in Morristown, a second wildland fire sprung up in the Town of Rossie. This caused many departments already operating at the fire in Morristown to split their resources and respond to both fires at the same time. As a result, Canton Fire was requested to stand-by in Gouverneur's station as they were operating at both fires.