Travels With The Post

Wildfire Hazards Increasing with Spring Sun and Winds
Firefighters from Sanatoga, Ringing Hill, and Pottstown battle
a 2021 brush fire on Beaumont Lane in Lower Pottsgrove Township

Wildfires Hazard Increasing with Spring Sun and Winds

HARRISBURG PA – With warmer temperatures and the variables of climate change, the risk of seasonal wildfires is increasing across Pennsylvania, state officials reported Thursday (March 14, 2024).

Ninety-nine percent of all Pennsylvania wildfires are caused by people, according to the state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources. Spring months of March, April, and May, and autumn months of October and November, pose the greatest danger of wildfires statewide, it added, including their potential to occur in western Montgomery, eastern Berks, and northern Chester counties.

  • The current risk of wildfires is deemed by the department as “moderate,” according to the daily update of its Forecast Fire Danger Map. The risk in the rest of the state remains “low,” it added. See the most recent map available online.

Light rainfall in many areas, a lack of green foliage in the spring, low humidity, and sunny and windy days all combine to increase chances of igniting and spreading forest and brush fires, the state noted.

Use Care When Outdoors

“A simple act of carelessness when lighting a camp or bonfire could prove disastrous among tinder-dry conditions in some of our forests,” department Secretary Cindy Adams Dunn said. “Taking the necessary precautions and practicing fire safety will prevent most brush and wildfires,” state Fire Commissioner Thomas Cook added.

Thousands of acres of state and private woodlands are burned by wildfires each year. In 2023 alone, the department stated, Pennsylvania endured more than 1,900 wild blazes. They burned 9,186 acres, and caused 15 injuries and three deaths.

Burning debris, using power equipment, power lines, and campfires are among the most common causes of wildfires in Pennsylvania.

For that reason, many boroughs and townships in the three-county area limit or ban open burning on properties within their boundaries. Wildfires that occurred last year in the three-county area were capably handled by local fire departments and volunteer fire companies.

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