CUMBERLAND — Firefighters had difficulty accessing three large brush fires in Allegany County Sunday afternoon, coupled with the gusty winds and low humidity, making the fires spread rapidly, according to officials.
The Allegany County Joint Communications began dispatching units just after 3 p.m. to fires in the area Williams Road on Irons Mountain, East Shipley Road on Town Hill and Cash Valley Road near the scenic railroad.
Units from Allegany, Washington and Garrett counties, Fulton and Somerset counties in Pennsylvania and Mineral and Morgan counties in West Virginia responded to the incidents, according to a Joint Communications Center spokesperson.
Ambulances from Allegany County Department of Emergency Services and Maryland State Police Trooper 5 helicopter aided firefighters on the scene.
Irons Mountain fire
Just after 3 p.m. units were dispatched to the 13000 block of Williams Road for a reported brush fire, according to the Joint Communications Center.
“The closest intersection would have been Williams Road and Christie Road,” Baltimore Pike Volunteer Fire Department Chief Sam Wilson said. “It was on the side of a steep hill, making access difficult.”
Wilson said that old logging roads in the area were blocked by downed trees.
“We got a bulldozer on scene and was able to cut a path to get crews back into the fire,” Wilson said.
Wilson, the incident commander, requested the assistance of the Maryland State Police helicopter to provide an aerial observation of the incident.
“From where I was located, I couldn’t see the entire incident scene,” Wilson said. “Using Trooper 5 was the quickest way that I could get a birds-eye view.”
“Just before 5 p.m. Allegany County requested Trooper 5 to assist with a large brush fire in Cumberland,” Maryland State Police Aviation Command Cumberland Section Supervisor Sgt. Michael McCloskey said. “Trooper 5 responded to the scene and picked up (the incident commander) and conducted overhead surveillance of the fireground.”
McCloskey said the aviation command aircrafts make it easy to operate as a mobile command and control or disaster site surveillance platform.
“(Aviation) command is frequently requested to provide overflights of large fires, particularly in remote areas (like) Western Maryland or disaster areas hit by tornadoes and other natural events.”
Wilson said that approximately 50 firefighters operated on the scene until approximately 9 p.m. when the incident was turned over to the Department of Natural Resources.
Wilson could not provide a size of the fire but said that DNR was going to walk the fire line Monday and provide an estimate.
No injuries or property damage was reported.
Wilson said a downed tree landed on electric lines and took the lines down to the ground, igniting the fire.
Town Hill fire
Fire crews were dispatched to the area of Orleans Road near Mann Road in Little Orleans for a smoke investigation, according to Orleans Volunteer Fire Department Chief John Clingerman.
“The fire was on Town Hill, off East Shipley Road,” Clingerman said. “It was only accessible by UTV, ATV or on foot and walking the fire line.”
The fire was approximately 4.5 acres and firefighters performed a lot of handwork using racks, leaf blowers and hand lines to contain the fire, according to Clingerman.
He said approximately 40 firefighters remained on the scene for approximately four hours, containing the fire before it was turned over to the Maryland Forestry Service.
No injuries were reported.
Cash Valley Road fire
Officials believe that a hot ember from a resident burning outside blew over and ignited a brush fire on Cash Valley Road.
“The fire was only about one acre, but it was at the cliff of the mountain … what people refer to as the bone cave on the scenic railroad,” Corriganville Volunteer Fire Department Chief Doug Kiser said. “Everything had to be accessed by foot.”
Kiser said that firefighters had approximately 800 feet of hose from one fire apparatus stretched out in the woods providing fire suppression.
“It was all hand work … we couldn’t even get a side-by-side or 4-wheeler up to it,” Kiser said. “It took 25 firefighters about one hour to contain.”
Weather conditions
National Weather Service Meteorologist Luis Rosa said Sunday that wind gusts and low humidity in the Cumberland area hindered firefighting operations ahead of a cold front that moved through the area late Sunday night into Monday.
Rosa said that the high temperature in Cumberland was 88 degrees with winds from the west gusting up to 21 mph.