The fire call to the Lehigh County 911 Center by Salisbury Township tax collector Linda Minger 3:35 p.m. April 29 reported flames from a brush fire to the rear of her home in the 2300 block of Honeysuckle Road were uncomfortably close to her home.

Both Eastern Salisbury and Western Salisbury firefighters were in the eastern Salisbury area just finishing up with a fire in Gilley's Mobile Home Park along Susquehanna Street when the second call came in.

Eastern Salisbury Fire Department and Western Salisbury Fire Department units converged on the area and knocked down the fire close to the residence.

Due to the widespread nature of the brush fire, centered in a heavily wooded area, ESFD Forest Fire Warden Kyle Mertl, operations command, contacted the 911 center for water tanker trucks and wildfire firefighters from throughout the Lehigh Valley. WSFD Chief Joshua Wells took over incident command.

Personnel from the Pennsylvania Department of Natural Resources Bureau of Forestry were able to secure a helicopter crew who started ferrying water in a 120-gallon bucket from the Franko Farm Pond nearby on Black River Road.

Additionally, a fixed-wing aircraft was able to make several passes over the fire area with traditional red-hued water suppressant.

A team from the Lehigh County Special Operations group was dispatched to the area and team coordinator John Kalynych and Wells set up an impromptu command center in the driveway of a Honeysuckle Road residence located a distance from the road.

Accountability charts showed where units from throughout Lehigh and Northampton counties were assigned wildfire duties.

ESFD Chief Dave Tomcics directed crews from the south end of the fire.

The fire attracted attention throughout the area as smoke from the fire was visible from downtown Allentown and the image of a helicopter and fixed-winged aircraft making repeated water drops was an unusual sight.

Firefighters cut through the guard rail along Honeysuckle Road to allow for ATV access to help with firefighting efforts.

The challenge was not the intensity of the fire, but its widespread nature, in a wooded area not accessible by firefighting apparatus. It was an effort involving firefighters going deep into the wooded area with personal water packs, rakes, shovels and other hand tools for the firefighting effort. While some firefighters were at the scene until almost dusk, their efforts paid off as the fire was brought under control before darkness, which would have complicated the effort.

Crews were able to limit the burn area to an estimated eight acres with no damage to residential structures.

With brush and woodland areas dry and ripe for fire, local fire officers and state forestry officers urged extreme caution to help keep other fire episodes from man-made sources at a minimum.

The fire is currently under investigation.