Firefighters are on the scene of a 100-acre brush fire in Berks County on Monday.
Extreme weather conditions — a three-pronged threat of high winds, dry air and warm temperatures — fueled a series of brush fires across the county in recent days.
On Monday, fires were reported in at least six townships and in Lancaster city.
In Paradise Township, burning trash sparked a blaze that burned about an acre of woodland off Route 896 south of Strasburg.
Crews were called to 39 Peach Lane at 4:15 p.m.
Strasburg Fire Chief Rick Wentz said residents were burning trash when "(the fire) just got away from them."
He said they recently had arrived home after being away for an extended period of time.
"I think they might have been gone all winter and didn't realize how dry it's been, that it didn't snow at all," he said.
Wentz said the wooded area made it difficult for crews to access the blaze.
He also said the area recently had been logged.
"There was a lot of piled-up brush. It was a thick, tangled-up mess," Wentz added.
He said firefighters set up a fire line — a three- to four-foot break between the fire and the nonburning section of woods — around the perimeter of the blaze and then worked to push the fire inward.
Wentz said crews had the fire under control in about 45 minutes.
In Lancaster city, units responded at 3:20 p.m. to a brush fire in front of the hhgregg store at Red Rose Commons on Fruitville Pike.
Several callers reported a mulch fire possibly involving a vehicle.
City fire Capt. Ken Barton estimated damage to the mulch and landscaped shrubbery at $4,000.
In addition, the plastic body parts on the vehicle had melted, causing about $2,000 in damage to the vehicle, Barton said. Crews were on the scene for an hour.
City crews also extinguished a small mulch fire on Manheim Pike just after 4:30 p.m.
Early Monday morning, fire burned a bush at Clock Towers in the 900 block of Columbia Avenue. Fire officials blamed a discarded cigarette.
"This is where someone takes that last puff, flicks it and it sits in the mulch and starts a fire," Barton said.
The wind feeds the small fire and, if unattended, it creates problems, he said.
Also Monday, several fire units from Lancaster County assisted with a brush fire in Berks County that had engaged about 20 acres of woodland, according to a fire official.
Some homes were being evacuated Monday night as the uncontrolled fire moved toward residential areas.
On Sunday, the National Weather Service placed Lancaster County under a "red flag warning" during the hours of 1 to 8 p.m. Monday.
That meant strong winds, low humidity and warm temperatures can "create explosive fire growth potential" during that period, according to the NWS.
Brett Fassnacht, a Lancaster County-Wide Communications supervisor, said brush fires have been reported across the county in recent few days.
"With the winds forecasted for (Monday), it's going to compound the problem," he said. "If you don't have to burn, don't. And just be extra careful with discarded hot items."
A slight chance of rain was possible Monday night with low temperatures in the upper 30s.
No other rain is in the forecast for the rest of the week.
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