AUSTIN — A wildfire Sunday evening in Wharton Township damaged seven structures and burned between 6 and 8 acres of land.
The Austin Volunteer Fire Department shared on social media details of how firefighters battled the blaze. They reported that a camp and garage were destroyed, and several other structures — two camps, two outbuildings and a pavilion — were damaged.
Department officials did not indicate that anyone was injured.
At 7:27 p.m. Sunday, Austin and Coudersport firefighters were dispatched to a fully involved garage fire in Wharton Township.
By 7:32, Chief J. Burgett was on scene establishing Austin command and reporting there was a second structure fully involved, multiple exposures and a wildfire. A full company response was requested from Port Allegany and Emporium fire departments, too, along with a Roulette tanker.
The crews battled the fire from several angles.
When Austin crews started arriving at the scene on Big Bear Lane, “crews immediately pulled multiple lines and went to work,” Austin firefighters reported. “They attacked the initial structure (garage) knocking the fire down and protecting an adjacent camp less than 10 feet away.”
They stretched hose over the embankment, and crews attacked an unoccupied camp on Hogback Mountain lane. Meanwhile, crews worked to “get to the head of the quickly moving wildfire that threatened additional structures. Crew were able to catch the fire at a roadway and contain it and began extinguishing.”
Hemlock Campground allowed firefighters to use ponds for water supply and helped shuttle manpower to the scenes.
Coudersport and Emporium crews assisted on Hogback Mountain Lane to battle the fully involved camp and provide water, as well as to extinguish the wildfire moving up that road. Their actions protected another camp with outbuildings in that area.
More volunteers from Coudersport and Emporium assisted with the wildfire on Big Bear Hollow, where Port Allegany firefighters supplied water and helped to extinguish fires in the garage and a small shed. Port Allegany assisted on Hogback Lane, too.
Roulette staged on Route 872.
All structural fires were out by 9:24 p.m., and all fires were reported out by 10:05 p.m.
Several fire stations were also on standby. Roulette covered Austin, Ulysses covered Coudersport, Smethport covered Port Allegany and St. Marys covered Emporium.
The fire department did not indicate what caused the blaze.
