Blue Mt Forest Fire
On the morning of April 21, 2007 Lehigh County 911 Received numerous calls for a smoke investgation on the blue moutain in the area of the Moutain Road Gap. Units arrived on scene and quickly started calling for help. First arriving units found a large brush fire quickly growing in size. Forest Fire units from Lehigh, Carbon, and Northampton Counties responded along with crews from DCNR. Three air tankers and a water attack helicopter where used to fight the large fire. For hours crews arrived and hiked miles up a steap and rocky terrain. Fire attack was with long hose lays and numerous hand tools. The air support was used to hold the fire as best as possible.
While the air tankers and water drop helicopter where making hits on the fire a fire line was created with hand tools and a back burn. At one point things started to look contained, but soon after the winds picked up and the fire jumped the line and made it way up. The fire quickly pushed over the top of the moutain as some firefighters gave chase, and others scattered to safe zones.
Smoke is seen pushing from the burning moutain
The fire took several hours before it was declared contained and then under control. All in all over 100 firefighters fought the blaze that scorched anywhere from 50 to 60 acres of land. No injuries where reported and Rehab crews where busy keeping firefighters hydrated. The cause of the fire is under investigation.
The large area of smoke shows how large the fire is
