Firefighting efforts at Neversink Mountain continued Monday with a focus on environmental control and safety.

“What we want to do is control the environment,” said Jeremy Hamilton, incident commander for the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, or DCNR, forestry division.

The department is managing the firefighting and cleanup operation, which is expected to last several days.

“We want to make sure that the fire will not break out of the current area due to wind and heat in the coming days,” he said.

Crews also remove hazardous trees that may fall and address other safety risks for firefighters and the general public.

Hamilton asked people to stay away from the mountain until the fire was declared out.

The outlook has improved significantly due to the hard work that has been done since then. A fire broke out late Friday night.

Crews continue to battle wildfire at Neversink Mountain in Berks

Crews worked from Friday night through the weekend and into Monday to prevent the fire from spreading to nearby buildings and causing further damage to public and privately owned land on the mountain, some of which is in Reading, Lower Alsace and Cumru counties.

“With the intensity of the work over the last few days and the rainfall overnight, things are starting to look really good out there,” Hamilton said. he said.

He said the fire is still considered an active fire and will remain so until it is deemed completely contained and extinguished.

“And it will probably stay that way even if we don’t have people on it,” he added.

A reassessment and better mapping of the affected area Sunday determined that approximately 137 acres of private and public forestland were affected by the fire.

The investigation is ongoing, he said, noting that the cause of origin and location of the fire will not be released until it is concluded.

He noted that state protocol requires all wildfires to be considered active crime scenes until investigations are completed.

Hamilton could not say how many departments and teams responded. Reinforcements arrived from professional and volunteer companies throughout Berks County, as well as from across the state and beyond.

“We have collaborators from as far away as the state of Montana coming to help us,” he said.

These include a Hotshot team of elite wildland firefighters from the state’s forestry department, as well as a team of Montanan Native Americans, members of the Cherokee Nation, from the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs.

The crew brought knowledge, equipment and manpower.

The Native American team relieved weary members of the support team of DCNR Region 15 in McKeen County to maintain fire boundaries on the mountaintop above the bend in the Schuylkill River.

Crew member Tim Christman explained that the support crew consists of volunteer firefighters who work for various companies and all have full-time jobs. He said he was reimbursed by the state for lost work time and expenses.

The McKeen men worked about six hours Sunday after their five-hour drive to Berks. After spending another six hours on Monday, they took a lunch break before starting their long journey home.

Christman said his support team was called in for a meeting last week. Forest fire in Blue Mountain near the Lehigh Water Gorge. With the fire now under control, the crew split the available members, sending six to the Huntingdon Pike Fire near Canoe Creek State Park in Blair County and six to the Neversink fire.

There are approximately six wildfires currently active in the state. Fire, Weather and Avalanche Centeris a non-profit organization that provides real-time interactive maps.

Hamilton said there have been 598 wildfires in Pennsylvania since July 1, bringing the total so far this year to nearly 2,000.

“The vast majority are human-caused,” he said.

A fire broke out at Neversink Mountain in Reading; the war continues (updated)

They are most often caused by accident or carelessness, although some are the result of arson. Campfires, burning garbage and sparks from equipment can start fires, especially in dry conditions, he said.

Hamilton warned people to comply with burning bans despite the rain on Sunday.

“People are starting to burn again because they think it’s okay to rain, but it wasn’t enough and it’s going to start to get dry again.”

Berks County commissioners enforce open burning ban. The measure prohibits the burning of leaves, grass, twigs, trash, paper, vegetable matter related to land clearing, or any debris outdoors, in a burn barrel or on the ground.

Violators will be charged with serial crime, with fines increasing for repeated violations.

First Publication Date: November 11, 2024, 17:00 EST