A weeklong wildfire — one of the worst ever in the region — erupted on the Blue Mountain this year.

After a week of intense firefighting, the nearly 600-acre wildfire that broke out on Blue Mountain in Lehigh Township reached full containment.

The huge fire began Nov. 2 near the Appalachian Trail and Route 248. As of Nov. 8, the wildfire was deemed contained.

From that point, firefighting efforts on Blue Mountain transitioned from a Department of Conservation and Natural Resources incident management team to the William Penn Forest District’s local team.

Bob Kurilla, spokesman for the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, said firefighters had fortified the perimeter to make sure the blaze couldn’t spread further despite the challenging drought conditions.

Kurilla said that although the fire was contained, an investigation was underway to determine its cause, and that investigators were working on-site to identify the origin of the fire, though the official cause had not yet been determined.

A total of 577 acres burned on the Blue Mountain.

Residents in surrounding towns had ash cover their vehicles, and smoke could be seen from Route 209 in Towamensing Township and other areas throughout Carbon County.

The Appalachian Trail was closed from Lehigh Gap to Little Gap.

More than 200 firefighters were on the scene throughout the weekend that the fire broke out.

Aside from the various fire departments who fought the blaze, the Bureau of Forestry, volunteer firefighters, Pennsylvania Game Commission and some people from the Bureau of State Parks were all on-scene at one point or another.

In the aftermath of the fire, countless organizations donated food and supplies to their respective fire departments that bravely battled the fire.

That included downtown businesses, restaurants and relief organizers, among others.

In Pennsylvania, 95% of all fires are caused by people.