[at-l] Fire in Michaux State Forest, PA - Belated Update

[landis@epix.net (Steve Landis)]

Here is the belated update on the fire near Pine Grove Furnace.  The
fire was north west of the Ironmasters Mansion and the trail was not
involved.  It's still dry, we need rain badly here in South Central, PA. 

Steve

>From the Sentinel:
http://www.cumberlink.com/localnews/2001/05/news5_03_01.html

Fire crews 'mop up' 05/03/01

Forestry workers still are on the scene of a fire that started Tuesday
afternoon in Michaux State Forest,
putting out hot spots and performing "mop-up" activities. 

At least 200 acres burned on the north side of South Mountain, making
the fire the largest in many years.

Fire inspectors with the Bureau of Forestry began their investigation
Tuesday morning and are trying to
determine what started the Cooke Township fire. 

"We got things pretty well contained yesterday, but there's still a lot
of hot spots," said Ivan Bretzman,
Dickinson Township fire chief and forest fire warden. "There was some
'mop-up' of everything within
100 feet of the fire line, and that we accomplished yesterday." 

The fire started on an old farm and spread rapidly up the side of the
ridge. Some homes were
threatened but were not damaged. 

Because of the fire and extremely dry conditions in general, Bretzman
has issued a burning ban in
Dickinson Township until further notice. 

He said the ban is in place because of extremely dry conditions and low
humidity. The township will
have to get at least two days of rain before the ban will be lifted. 

"We had a lot of rain (earlier in the spring), but now conditions are
pretty dry, so this has just snuck up
on everybody," he said.