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Hundreds of Acres Burned in Carbon and Lehigh Counties

EAST PENN TOWNSHIP — A brush fire ripped through the woods in Carbon and Lehigh counties for nearly 36 hours. Firefighters say that brush fire turned into...

EAST PENN TOWNSHIP -- A brush fire ripped through the woods in Carbon and Lehigh counties for nearly 36 hours.

Firefighters say that brush fire turned into a forest fire, destroying around 400 acres on Blue Mountain near Bowmanstown.

Hundreds of volunteer firefighters worked since Saturday to get the flames under control.

Officials said it's now a waiting game as crews continue to keep an eye on things, putting out hot spots and seeing what the wind will do.

The Carbon County EMA director told Newswatch 16 that it has been a tough two days for hundreds of firefighters, calling it some of the toughest firefight they've seen in a long time.

The Franklin Township fire chief says crews attacked the fire from several sides of the mountain. However, as the wind picked up in places, and the brush dried off, they needed to call in extra help.

"It’s just a hard mountain to get to. There’s too many obstacles to get in. It takes a long time to get resources into the fire line to do it. We walk in with filled tanks. They get emptied. You have to walk back out to fill them,” Franklin Township Fire Company Chief Bruce Wolfe said. “It's just a difficult mountain to get at to get everything done."

EMA officials in Carbon County said they needed to bring in fire crews from Schuylkill and Monroe counties to help contain the fire. They also took to the sky with water drops over troubled areas.

Some people gathered on East Lizard Creek Road near Lehighton Sunday, watching the flames in the distance. But in a matter of minutes, that distance wasn't far anymore.

"Once the flames came, it was really scary. Everybody just started running," Shelly Nunemacher of Summit Hill said.

In a matter of less than an hour, the fire spread closer, coming within yards of several homes.

Crews say they've been working around the clock since around 2 p.m. Saturday, dealing with the wind whipping over  Blue Mountain, trying to box in the fire and keep it away from people's homes. Charles Pollock with the Mahoning Valley Volunteer Fire Company was one the first on scene to help save those homes.

"Probably 30 seconds we might have lost homes," Pollock said.

Because of the 300 firefighters working across the mountain, the fire hasn't destroyed any homes at this point, but it came close to Chris Odenwelder's home.

"When you start getting into your own property, there's no word to describe how grateful I am they were able to stop it in time," said Odenwelder of East Penn Township.

Now, firefighters say they're just pushing through fatigue, hoping some much-needed rain will put an end to all of this.

Pollock said he has gotten about four hours of sleep in the last day and said he won’t sleep until the rain starts.

Crews said they will stay out Sunday night, waiting and watching the weather closely, to see if the winds pick up and what effect that has and if the rain comes as well.

There is no word what started the fire that damaged both state game land and private land as well.

A voluntary evacuation was in place as the fire burned. The Red Cross opened a shelter at Citizens Fire Company in Slatedale for anyone who left their home because of that brush fire.

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