PENNSYLVANIA, USA — What started as a house fire quickly turned into a brush fire in the woods near the Honeypot section in Nanticoke.
"This time of year, you know, it's spring. Everything is dry. It's still somewhat dead on the ground, and then you get a house fire with some flaming debris coming off; it can spark a brush fire real quick," said Elm Hill Hose Company Fire Chief Brian Oppelt.
Chief Oppelt sent 15 firefighters to help put out the brush fire that stretched over an acre of rough terrain.
"It's mountains, and there's a lot of rock cliffs, so once the fire takes off and starts jumping up those cliffs, it's nearly impossible to get manpower to the top," said Chief Oppelt.
Late Monday afternoon in the mountains of South Abington Township in Lackawanna County, a Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR) helicopter was helping crews battle another brush fire.
Stormtracker 16 Meteorologist John Hickey says this could be a constant sight in the sky over the next few days due to below-average rainfall.
"A big issue right now actually is that we're running about two inches, roughly, behind on rainfall for the last 30 days, so not only are we behind for the year, but it's really within the last month that we've been really dry," said Hickey.
Until that dry weather ends, Hickey says it is likely brush fires will continue popping up.
"This time of year, the humidity tends to be a lot lower, so it's that really dry air that tends to fuel a lot of the fires that we have, and until we can find some decent rain, we really don't see a change in that so this week will be particularly dangerous for wildfires or brushfires, and I think that's going to spill over into next week too," explained Hickey.
A Fire Weather Watch will be issued Wednesday across northeastern and central Pennsylvania.
And if dry conditions continue, the National Weather Service could issue a Red Flag Warning, which would put more restrictions on areas that allow controlled burning.
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