LUZERNE COUNTY, Pa. — Raindrops on his helicopter's windshield are a welcome sight for pilot Brock Heffner.
Heffner helps fight fires from above all over northeastern Pennsylvania.
"Definitely one of the busiest seasons I've ever had out here," said Brock Heffner, pilot.
The fire that started in a wooded area Wednesday afternoon near Crystal Lake in Bear Creek Township has kept Heffner busy for four days straight.
Newswatch 16 was interviewing him about the busy season when he got the call.
Dan DiCamillo is on the Incident Management Team with the Pennsylvania's Department of Conservation and Natural Resources.
The smoke was so bad that DCNR officials were worried about visibility issues on the turnpike, and a stretch of the highway was shut down overnight into Friday.
"At this time, it has burned 4,376 acres," said Dan DiCamillo, DCNR Incident Management Team.
Crews are making progress, but it's still burning. Mother nature is also providing some much-needed relief.
"Now, with this rain, we'll probably see suppression and the containment go up significantly this weekend," said DiCamillo.
"If it can saturate the fuels, we should see a significant drop in the fire activity for sure," added Heffner.
But that relief might not last long, "I do warn people that we're still in fire season, so even though we're getting a little bit of rain now, it doesn't take more than a day or two of dry periods, of high temperatures, or high winds with low humidity, to remove the moisture. So it's helping this fire, but there's still the potential for more fires in the near future," said Heffner.
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