Bradford Township Volunteer Fire Chief Dan Burkhouse, who is involved with operations for the District 15 Wildfire Suppression Crew, told The Era the local District 15 Wildfire Suppression Crew saw a lot of action this past week, assisting with large wildfires burning thousands of acres near Pittsburgh and the Poconos.
Burkhouse said he sent a crew of seven volunteer firefighters Thursday morning to a wildfire spreading hundreds of acres near Uniontown, southeast of Pittsburgh. That fire has since been extinguished. Then on Friday, he sent a crew of six to a fire in the Poconos that has burned 6,000 acres and counting.
The incident is transitioning to a national Type Two incident today or Tuesday, according to District 15 crew member Tim Crissman. He said this means command of the fire is moving from state to federal and providing federal money and additional resources to fight the blaze.
This is the first time a Type 2 team has ever been brought into the state, Crissman said on Sunday evening.
“There’s crews coming in from other states. The whole dynamic of the incident has changed,” Burkhouse said. “I can’t remember one before in PA that has got to this point.”
Crissman remembers another large fire at Two Rock Run near Renovo in the late 1980s which burned 10,000 acres in 10 hours. “But the difference is that fire only lasted 24 hours, then it rained and put it out. This fire is not getting an precipitation, it’s the result of drought-like conditions. It’s not burning as hot or fast, but it’s burning longer,” he said.
Crissman led the six-man crew, which returned to the local area Sunday evening after a long weekend of heavy firefighting.
Crissman said they helped with a multitude of tasks, including “burning out” by which they burn the fuel of the fire (brush and trees, etc.) between the containment line laid down and the actual fire. They also helped with “mop up,” which is putting out anything left burning after the fire reaches the containment line, cut snags to make way for containment lines and felled burning trees.
“Trees are burning in their tops and when the wind blows, it blows burning embers from the tree across the containment line,” Crissman explained. “Then the fire gets another foothold and it takes off again.”
He said they were working in a wooded area, encountering quite a bit of wildlife, but there were also lots of structures in the area.
“Today (Sunday) was a bad day for the fire. The conditions are awful, it’s very dry, very windy, the fuel in this fire is very thick, a lot of brush, and it’s helping it burn hotter and longer. The conditions are just really bad. It’s bone dry and windy,” Crissman said, noting he thinks a lack of snow melt this spring had an impact. “The high temperatures early in spring allowed things to dry out sooner than it normally would.”
Burkhouse had another crew of six ready to deploy to the fire Sunday night, but they’ve been put on stand-by as the incident switches to federal command. He anticipates receiving more information this morning.
Crissman said his crew does what they do because they want to help.
“We don’t mind the traveling. They take pretty good care of us, we’re fed pretty well and we slept in tents at night,” he commented on the experience. “I mean, it is tough. I’m really looking forward to a shower. But, we do this because we like to help out. That’s why we’re members of this crew. Occasionally there are large fires like this, and we’re happy to go give them a hand.”
On Thursday morning, a crew led by Bradford Township Assistant Fire Chief Bob Eliason, a District 15 Wildfire Suppression Crew member, joined others from Maryland and across Pennsylvania, including state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources forest crews and state Game Commission crews to battle a wildfire southeast of Pittsburgh.
Eliason reported a total of around 411 acres burned in Forbes State Forest near Uniontown and the last he knew, the cause remained under investigation.
He said they saw active fire while building the line Thursday night, then went back in Friday morning to put out hot spots.
“There was a lot of heavy mountain laurel we had to cut lines through about a mile. It was not easy,” Eliason said. “It was pretty much contained when we left (Friday night).”
He said it was one of the bigger fires he’s ever seen and noted the use of bulldozers to build heavy lines to help prevent the fire from reaching houses.
Meanwhile, the Bureau of Forestry is offering a $5,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of those responsible for setting what has become known as the “16-Mile Fire” east of Cresco and the “Bear Town Fire” in Barrett Township. Burkhouse said the 16-Mile Fire refers to two fires near in the Poconos, located 16 miles apart.
Fire investigators have determined that both fires were intentionally set, according to a news release issued by officials close to the incident.
The 16-Mile Fire, which is along the Monroe and Pike county border, continued to burn Sunday and created significant smoke, which drifted into residential areas as winds shifted, the release says. Crews continued to monitor the perimeter and control hot spots that are close to containment lines.
The fire started on Wednesday morning and has grown to nearly 6,000 acres as of Sunday. On Friday, despite firefighting efforts including numerous air drops, four permanent structures were lost, the release states.
On Sunday, firefighters continued fire suppression efforts, but low humidity, challenging terrain and hot-burning fuel presented difficulties, according to the release.
The Bear Town fire also started Wednesday, and is in the area of Bear Town Road and Lower Seese Hill Road in Barrett Township. Fire officials reported Sunday it has been contained but they are still monitoring the perimeter and looking for hot spots in the containment area.
Burkhouse said the local region, being rural and forested, has been fortunate not to see fires of this magnitude — or many wildfires this spring at all for that matter.
Locally, there haven’t been many wildfires, according to Burkhouse, though he noted one last week on West Corydon Street that is believed to be suspicious in nature and still under investigation by Bradford Township Police.
Numerous other wildfires have also been reported across the four-county region, but nothing too major.
“The conditions we’ve had this spring, I’m surprised there weren’t more in our area,” Burkhouse said. “We had 8 to 9 days without any rain and the rain Friday wasn’t much for anything. Conditions were right for fires and fortunately we were spared, but downstate, they’ve had their share.”
