East Deer brush fire, due to terrain, takes more than 2 hours to extinguish
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Fire crews in the lower Allegheny Valley put out a brush fire Saturday afternoon in an East Deer field rife with fields, woods, hills and power lines.
Crews were dispatched just before 1 p.m. to the area of Cambria Hill Drive for the brush fire, said Jack Bailie, chief of the East Deer Volunteer Fire Company.
The fire was about 100 yards from any structure, Bailie said.
“It spread a couple acres,” Bailie said. “It was from where the radio towers come on Murrayhill, to Riddle Run.”
The fire was extinguished about two-and-a-half hours later, he said. It was in a wooded area along a power line right of way that made it difficult for crews to reach. Instead, crews used brush unit vehicles and ATVs to get to the fire.
“We couldn’t get an engine to it,” Bailie said. “We had to go through fields and woods to get to it.”
A cause of the fire hasn’t been determined.
There were no injuries.
Nearly a dozen companies responded to the fire, including Frazer Nos. 1 and 2, Summit Hose, Allegheny Valley, Rural Ridge, Eureka EMS and Fawn No. 1. Bailie thanked the support from the surrounding crews.
“I was glad it wasn’t windy,” he said.