Dangerously dry conditions raise Western Pennsylvania's brush fire risk
CORAOPOLIS, Pa. (KDKA) — Dry and windy weather keeps whipping up brush fires in several counties in Southwestern Pennsylvania, including Allegheny, Butler, Fayette, Allegheny, and Washington counties.
Firefighters are on high alert and chasing fire after fire due to the dry conditions. On Thursday, it took crews hours to put out two separate brush fires in Allegheny County.
A major blaze in Coraopolis burned 7 acres near Cornell School on Thursday. The Coraopolis fire chief said it was the worst brushfire he's dealt with in his 37 years at the volunteer fire department. He's urging people to take the current drought and fire dangers seriously.
"With this high wind and dry conditions, by the time I arrived on scene, the fire was already up the hillside and was just taking off towards the neighborhoods and right towards the cemetery," Coraopolis Volunteer Fire Department Chief Charles Spencer Jr. said.
Chief Spencer said the department had to call in nearly a dozen other departments for assistance.
"Part of it got pretty close to some houses on Flemming Street. So, it was bad. It was close, it was close. If we didn't have all the mutual aid departments come in, we could of had something major happen in this town," Chief Spencer said.
"We had to fight it from up on the cemetary hill, off of School Street, off of Maple Street. It was pretty bad," he added.
It's not clear what started the brush fire.
"It was already a burned-out area from the week before we had a brush fire up there. But then it started over in the area where it didn't burn and it just took off. Last week, that was started by electrical wires arcing," Chief Spencer said.
Thursday's blaze wasn't an easy one to put out. Crews fought the flames for about 10 hours. One firefighter had to go to the hospital for dehydration.
"The difficulty is it's a hillside, lot of trees, lot of brush. Then the fire got up into the trees, so we had to drop a lot of big trees up in the woods, and plus we didn't have any water up in the cemetery so we had to use tankers," said Chief Spencer.
At the same time Thursday, crews battled a large brush fire in nearby Robinson Township. It burned near the Costco store for five hours.
Much of the state is at a high risk for fire danger.
"The problem is we haven't had any rain. You got dry conditions, you got high winds, and that combination is a bad combination for a brush fire," Chief Spencer said.
Pennsylvania declared drought conditions in 35 counties. Nearly all of the Pittsburgh area is under a drought watch.
"I'm hoping for some rain. We've had enough, we've had enough fires that'll last me for a while," he said.
Chief Spencer said people need to be careful and avoid campfires and burning anything until we get enough rain and dry conditions are gone.
"If you see something smoking in the woods, burning woods, call your local fire department right away. Do not hesitate because with this high wind it could take off in seconds," he said.
If your county is under a drought watch, you're encouraged to voluntarily reduce your water use by 10 to 15 percent.
The Pennsylvania DEP shared some water conservation tips:
- skip the car wash
- reduce how often you use the dishwasher and washing machine
- water plants before the sun comes up or after it goes down
- only water your lawn if necessary.