Warm, dry weather has been fueling brush fires across the region.
“It’s a very rough, rugged real estate in here,” forest fire specialist Ray Miller said. “A lot of rocks and mountain laurel and stuff, so it’s hard to get people on it.”
The blaze began around 4 p.m. Tuesday. On Wednesday, crews were still trying to contain the brush fire on Tussey Mountain in Bedford County.
“With dry conditions, fire’s gonna spread rapidly,” Miller said. “Our leaves haven’t come out on the trees, which helps shade the forest and cool things down.”
The State Game Commission, the Bureau of Forestry and nearby volunteer fire companies teamed up to fight the fire. Around 40 crew members in the woods still were not able to get close enough to put the fire out.
“The guys are using hand tools and chainsaws, stuff like that, to get a containment line outside the edge of the fire so when the fire reaches that point, there’s no fuel there for it,” Miller explained.
At the same time, crews are also working to keep a few cabins in the mountain from catching fire.
The best they can do is keep the fire from spreading and douse the flames from above.
“We’re in putting containment lines on and we’re using air tankers, making drops on the fire.”
Forest fire specialist Ray Miller said dry weather is the main suspect, but a number of factors could have fueled the fire.
“It’s a combination of things,” Miller said. “People in the woods now scouting for turkeys, mushroom hunting. There’s a trout stream down there. A lot of people hike the Mid State Trail so at the present time we just don’t know.”
Miller expects crews will be fighting the fire for at least another day, unless enough rain comes to help them out. He said 100 acres have already been burned.
All things considered, Miller still said, “We’re lookin’ good. Lookin’ real good.”