Illegal burning cited as cause of brush fire near Ashland
KAYLEE LINDENMUTH / SHENANDOAH SENTINEL - Ashland firefighters douse a pile of burned items at a trailer just outside the borough on March 12, 2020.
CONYNGHAM TOWNSHIP, Columbia County – An illegal burn pile at a trailer just north of Ashland was extinguished by firefighters Thursday afternoon.
Just before 5:00pm, the Wilburton Fire Company were dispatched for a smoke investigation near the county line, with thick, black smoke reported.
Investigating units found the source about a quarter of a mile north of the Schuylkill/Columbia line, and requested Ashland to respond.
The fire was found at an apparently abandoned trailer a quarter of a mile up a dirt road from Route 61 in Conyngham Township
“As you can see, they’re burning anything and everything,” said Ashland fire chief Phil Groody, who said the fire was an illegal burn pile.
Groody noted that, with windier conditions, the fire could’ve spread through the woods. It was already beginning to spread in that direction, he said.
He added that the call wasn’t the first of its kind at the property.
Firefighters from the Wilburton Fire Company and Ashland’s Washington Fire Company responded to the scene with their brush trucks. Area Services EMS out of Northumberland County assisted at the scene as well.
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