Firefighters Battle Halloween Brush Fire In Buckingham Neighborhood

FURLONG, PA — Firefighters from throughout Central Bucks County responded to a large brush fire on Halloween night in the Buckingham Forest neighborhood in Furlong.

The fire ignited in the extremely dry landscape shortly before 8 p.m. while children were trick-or-treating through the nearby residential neighborhood.

Area residents reported hearing the sound of fireworks just before the blaze ignited on a hillside between Green Ridge Road and Deer Meadow Lane.

The Lingohocken Fire Company arrived at the scene just before 8 p.m. and found a large area of the woods along the ridge line on fire. Crews were also dispatched from Doylestown, Midway, Warwick, Hartsville, and Plumsteadville to provide additional resources given the rough terrain.

"When I arrived I saw fire behind the homes on Green Ridge Road in between Deer Meadow and Forest Hill Drive," said Lingohocken's Deputy Fire Chief Ethan Tecker. "There was a large area on fire and at first it was difficult to determine the exact scope of the fire line.

Hazy smoke can be seen in the woods behind the houses. (Kara Seymour)

"We immediately got engines in place in accessible areas to establish structure protection and began establishing a fire line," said Tecker.

Tecker said the steep terrain posed a challenge for the firefighters, who utilized its field trucks, the company's UTV, which is equipped with a pump, and forestry hose lines to knock the fire down.

"While no houses were immediately exposed to the fire, the goal was to quickly contain it before there was a problem," said Tecker.

The volunteers fought the fire for about an hour before declaring it under control. Firefighters spent an extended period on scene establishing fire breaks to prevent any rekindling.

The lights, sirens, hose lines snaking their way through the streets and the heavy smell of smoke in the air turned a typically fun evening of trick-or-treating into a surreal scene in the residential neighborhoods.

"The kids were all crying. It really was quite crazy," said a mom who lives in the neighborhood and watched the scary scene unfold.

"You could see the whole woods lit up," she said. "I felt like I was in California (seeing the ridge line on fire). It was kinda nightmarish."

The cause of the fire remains under investigation by the Buckingham Township Fire Marshal's office and the Buckingham Township Police Department.

Tecker reminds residents of the existing burn bans in place both countywide and locally.

"People need to understand that this is an unprecedented time of drought that we're dealing with and the risk for uncontrolled fire spread like we saw last night is incredibly high," he said. "It's putting a lot of people and a lot of homes in danger right now. Until we see an appreciable rainfall people need to be very, very careful."

Hose lines snake their way through the streets of the development. (Kara Seymour)