The dry, warm conditions resulted in several brush fires throughout the region over the weekend.

Fire companies from East Penn and Mahoning Township fire companies responded to a brush fire Saturday morning in East Penn Township.

The fire was reported around 11 a.m. at a residence near the intersection of Municipal Road and Thomas Jefferson Drive. It appeared high winds carried flames from a burning pit onto the lawn.

Over in Schuylkill County, fire companies from numerous communities responded to a brush fire in Rush Township on Sunday afternoon.

The alarm came in around 1:30 p.m. for a fast moving brush fire near the intersection of Crest Street and Grier Avenue in the village of Grier City.

The fire was to the rear of the Ryan Township Fire Company grove. Several acres were involved including a field and heavy brush. High winds worked to fan the flames.

There was an elevated risk for fire spread on Sunday, with minimum humidity values between 20 and 30 percent. It was combined with northwesterly winds of 15 to 25 mph with gusts to around 35 mph. The conditions along with the continued drying of the fine fuels supported the rapid spread of fire.

Brush fire season

The danger for wildfires this time of year are elevated, Department of Conservation and Natural Resources Secretary Cindy Adams Dunn said.

Adams Dunn said that Schuylkill and Berks counties are in the drought warning, while the rest of the region is in a drought watch.

“This time of year, wildfires can happen with or without a drought,” Adams Dunn said. “The ridges in your area are really dry and they’re prone to wildfire any spring.”

Adams Dunn said that during the spring wildfire season, you can have wildfires even without being in official drought conditions because leaves are not on the trees, and the sun is getting to the forest floors.

“This year, we didn’t have a very good snow pack, so if the leaves are wet and packed, they’re less likely to burn,” she said. “However, this year we didn’t have a big snow pack so the leaves are dry, the wind and the sun dry them out very quickly.”

Adams Dunn added “This is our classic wildfire season.”

“Last summer and fall was a really unusual summer and fall wildfire season,” she said. “That was definitely driven by the drought.

“The spring wildfire season is something we have to face every year, and we expect this year could be worse because of this extra issue of it being a drought and especially because we didn’t have a big snow pack.”

However, Adams Dunn said this can be prevented if people are more careful.

“In the spring, people tend to get in the cleanup mentality and make debris piles,” she said. “Pay attention to conditions, avoid wind, avoid dry days and tend to fire,” she said. “Another option is to compost and make brush fires and manage your debris a different way.”

Adams Dunn noted that campfires can also be an issue.

“Anyone who makes a camp fire, tend it constantly, make sure you’ve cleared the area of leaves, don’t have campfires on a windy day,” she said. “If you leave, make sure it’s stone cold when you go, even just a little hot coal burning can reignite a fire (so) even campfires can cause problems.”

Adams Dunn said that if it gets extremely dry, sparking can actually cause a wildfire in extreme conditions, and added the most common thing we see is people cleaning up debris and attempting to burn it.

“Another mistake people make is to try to manage itself; people do get hurt and worse,” she said, adding that anyone who gets a wildfire should call 911 and get help. “This is the season where our staff manage a lot of wildfires across the state.”