Firefighting efforts at Neversink Mountain continued Monday with a focus on perimeter control and security.

“What we’re looking to do is control the perimeter,” said Jeremy Hamilton, incident commander for the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR) forestry division.

The division is leading the firefighting and cleanup operation, which is expected to continue for several days.

“We want to make sure that with the wind and heat of the next few days the fire doesn’t break out of the existing footprint,” he said.

Crews are also removing dangerous trees that could fall and addressing other safety risks to firefighters and the general public.

Hamilton asked people to stay off the mountain until the fire was declared inactive.

The outlook improved significantly thanks to the hard work carried out since the The fire occurred on Friday night..

Crews continue to battle wildfires on Neversink Mountain in Berks

Crews worked Friday nights through the weekend and into Monday to prevent the fire from spreading to nearby buildings and causing further damage to public and private lands on the mountain, portions of which are in the municipalities of Reading and Lower Alsace and Cumru.

“With the amount of work done over the last few days and with the precipitation overnight, things are starting to look really good,” Hamilton said.

The fire is still considered an active fire and will be until it is fully contained and considered extinguished, he said.

“And it will probably continue to be that way even after we don’t have people in it,” he added.

A reassessment and better mapping of the affected area on Sunday determined that the fire affected about 137 acres of publicly and privately owned forests.

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

State protocol requires that all wildfires be treated as active crime scenes until their investigations are completed, he said.

Hamilton could not say how many departments and teams responded. In addition to professional and volunteer companies from across Berks County, reinforcements arrived from across the state and beyond.

“We have cooperators from as far away as the state of Montana who really came to help us,” he said.

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

The crews brought knowledge, equipment and manpower.

The Native American team relieved exhausted McKeen County DCNR District 15 support team members in maintaining fire perimeters on the mountaintop, high above the bend of the Schuylkill River.

The support team is made up of volunteer firefighters from various companies, all of whom have full-time jobs, explained team member Tim Christman. The state reimburses them for lost work time and expenses, he said.

McKeen’s men worked about six hours Sunday after their five-hour drive to Berks. After another six hours on Monday, they took a lunch break before making the long drive home.

Christman said the support team was called last week to a forest fire in Blue Mountain near Lehigh Water Gap. With that fire now contained, the crew divided up 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 currently about six active wildfires in the state, according to the Fire, Meteorology and Avalanche Centera non-profit organization that provides real-time interactive maps.

Since July 1, there have been 598 wildfires in Pennsylvania, Hamilton said, and the total number so far this year has reached about 2,000.

“The vast majority are man-made,” he said.

Fire breaks out on Neversink Mountain in Reading; the battle continues (updated)

Although some are the result of arson, more often they are accidental or caused by carelessness. Campfires, burning trash and sparks from equipment can cause fires, especially in dry conditions, he said.

Hamilton warned the public to pay attention to burn bans despite Sunday’s rain.

“People start burning again because they think it’s okay if it rains, but that wasn’t enough,” he said, “and it’s going to start drying out again.”

Berks County Commissioners have enacted a ban on open burning. The measure prohibits burning leaves, grass, twigs, trash, paper, clearing-related plant matter or any type of debris outdoors, either in a burn barrel or on the ground.

Violators are subject to being charged with a summary offense, with increasing fines for repeat violations.

Originally Posted: November 11, 2024 at 5:00 pm EST