Wharton Township supervisors lift outdoor burning ban
Residents in Wharton Township can resume burning yard debris and campers can get back to making s’mores now that township officials lifted the ban on all outdoor burning instituted when a huge forest fire started last week.
The fire, which started on April 17 and burned more than 400 acres in the Quebec Run Wild Area in Forbes State Forest and came within a couple hundred yards of homes on Skyline Drive, was declared fully extinguished on Monday, and township supervisors lifted the burning ban on Thursday.
Rain late last week helped quench the fire. Continued rain this week soaked the dead leaves, branches and trees that fuel forest fires and caused plants to sprout and grow reducing the threat of a fire.
“It’s starting to green up. This rain really helped everything green up,” said Jim Means, chairman of the board of supervisors.
He said he contacted officials with the state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources and they agreed that the ban could be lifted.
“This will help the campground owners because people like to have camp fires,” Means said.
Residents burning yard debris and campers should be careful with their fires.
“We’re asking people to use common sense,” Means said.
Fires should not be set on windy days, and early morning and late evenings are best times for fires because the ground is damp at those times, he said.
People who start forest fires can be forced to pay the cost of putting them out, Means said.
A camp fire is the suspected cause of last week’s fire, which, Means said, was one of the worst he can remember.
He said an airplane and helicopter made water drops and two bulldozers where used to make fire breaks.
More than 100 local fire fighters and officials from the Bureau of Forestry, Pennsylvania Game Commission and Maryland Department of Natural Resources helped fight the fire.
Dry and windy weather kept stoking the fire and frustrating firefighters last week.
The area where the fire started was too remote and rugged to be accessed by trucks or all-terrain vehicles forcing firefighters to carry 8-gallon water tanks on their backs for more than a mile to reach the scene.
Residents, local businesses and organizations and the American Red Cross brought food and water to the firefighters throughout the ordeal.