Crews battle fire near Schuylkill River Trail
WEST POTTSGROVE >> A downed high tension wire caused some problems for area fire departments July 6.
At around 2:50 p.m. multiple fire departments responded to a grassy area near the Schuylkill River Trail in West Pottsgrove for a report of a field fire. Authorities said the fire began when a high tension wire fell, setting the grass on fire.
“Someone saw something along the trail and police got here and notified us that it was a brush fire so we had all the brush trucks come out,” said Greg Bloch, chief at West End Fire Company.
As crews worked to put out the fire, rehab units hustled to keep workers hydrated in the 90-degree heat.
Firefighters managed to get the blaze under control by 4 p.m. and no injuries were reported in the blaze.
“I think it was more difficult because of the location of the fire,” said Bloch. “We’re so far back. It wasn’t right along the road.”
Bloch said the fire caused damage to about a half an acre of land.
Responding to the fire along with West End Fire Company were West Pottsgrove Fire Department, Pottstown Fire Department, Ringing Hill Fire Company, Birdsboro Fire Department, Norco Fire Company, Monach Fire Company and brush trucks from Birdsboro, Exeter and Boyertown. West Pottsgrove Police and Goodwill Ambulance were also on the scene.
As crews put out the fire, power outages were taking place in areas of Pottstown. Traffic lights were down at the intersections of King and Hanover streets and North Hanover Street and Industrial Highway. Police were directing traffic at King and North Hanover streets before putting up temporary stop signs at the affected intersections. Block said the down wire may have had something to do with the outages but could not immediately say for sure.
PECO cited the issue as an equipment problem on their outage map and reported power restored about 5 p.m. to most loca-