Resident burning trash sparks large brush fire in North Union
KAYLEE LINDENMUTH / SHENANDOAH SENTINEL - A Ringtown Valley firefighter battles a brush fire on Green Mountain Road in North Union Township on Feb. 26, 2023.
ZION GROVE – Someone burning trash on a clear, dry, and windy Friday sparked a sizable brush fire in the Ringtown Valley today.
Firefighters from across the valley were called to 711 Green Mountain Road near the border of East Union and North Union townships just after 3pm Friday.
A resident had conducted a controlled burn of trash, which got out of control and spread into the surrounding woodlands. Smoke from the fire could be seen as far as the Brandonville mountain.
Firefighters from Nuremberg-Weston, Ringtown, and Sheppton-Oneida responded to battle the blaze, along with DCNR and Shenandoah Ambulance.
No injuries were reported.
Crews were clear of the scene in about two hours, after 5.5 acres had burned.
DCNR Fire Forester Jake Novitsky told the Sentinel Friday that dry, clear, and windy days, like Sunday, are not good days to burn rubbish or refuse. The Shenandoah area experienced high temperatures in the 50s today. He emphasized how quickly fallen leaves and brush can dry out.
“You have this high wind, no cloud cover, a lot of direct sunlight on the forest floor, within an hour or two, three hours tops, the fuels are ready to burn,” Novitsky said. “A lot of my busier days are in the spring — March, April, May — when you have a half-decent rain late at night, and then people think it’s okay to burn.”
“A lot of people, for some reason, people like burning on [dry] days like this,” Novitsky added. “People are cooped up in the winter and they want to get out there and clean up their leaves from over the winter and the fall, and clean up some brush fires and stuff like that and light it on fire. The best days to do that is when it’s raining. When it’s overcast, when it’s drizzling a little bit.”
The brush fire was one of at least three in Schuylkill County Sunday, the others in Ashland and near Orwigsburg.
Full Photo Gallery
About Author
