Seneca’s fire chief is recommending caution before burning after his department extinguished a brush fire that burned nearly an acre Wednesday afternoon in Cranberry Township.
Seneca volunteer firefighters responded at about 1:45 p.m. to the Holiday Inn Express at 225 Singh Drive after a brush fire was reported at a field outside the hotel.
Fire chief Paul Marsh said the blaze was started from a pile of burning cardboard boxes that spread the fire to the dry grass.
While Marsh said there is no burning ban in Venango County right now, he recommends that people wait for less dry conditions outside.
“They need to wait for rain,” Marsh said. “If you have to burn, have a garden hose nearby.”
Marsh also recommended using an approved container for burning as well.
“Most brush fires are caused by the same thing. Burning and it gets away from them,” Marsh said.
“This was an easy one,” said Bill Boyer, a member of the Seneca fire police “And it was pretty much put out by the time the brush truck got here.”
Marsh said three quarters of an acre were burned in total, but the fire “could have gotten into that other brush and into the hill and gotten much bigger.”
The chief said his department has responded to four brush fires so far this year, and that’s pretty normal for this time.
“Once the grass greens up there won’t be as much,” Marsh said.
