Crews fight massive Corriganville brush fire

Feb. 16—CUMBERLAND — Low humidity, gusty winds and dry ground made for a dangerous combination for the second straight day Wednesday, leading to a series of brush fires that occupied firefighting resources for hours.

Fire crews battled two large fires — in the Corriganville area at Mount Savage and Portertown roads and in the Middle Ridge Road area of Rawlings.

The National Weather Service on Wednesday morning advised that weather conditions would create an elevated wildfire risk, and open burning of any kind was dangerous and should be avoided.

The Corriganville fire, which was reported about 1:15 p.m., drew firefighters from Allegany and Garrett counties in Maryland, Mineral County in West Virginia and Somerset and Bedford counties in Pennsylvania.

The Rawlings fire was reported about 2 p.m. and was originally close to a home and propane tanks. It drew firefighters from Allegany and Mineral counties.

The biggest fire, though, was in Corriganville. Many of the units that battled the Rawlings blaze were later sent to Corriganville. Volunteers utilized all-terrain vehicles, leaf blowers, rakes, brush trucks, tankers and later a bulldozer to attempt to extinguish the fire over the steep, rugged terrain.

First responders also used Drone 5, the Corriganville Volunteer Fire Company's $18,000 drone, which offered an eye in the sky over the fire. The drone has state-of-the-art features like thermal imaging, a 200X zoom lens, a powerful spotlight and a loudspeaker to broadcast messages.

It was the second consecutive day brush fires have occupied local firefighters. On Tuesday, firefighters from Allegany, Garrett and Mineral counties battled a large brush fire on Lucky Valley Road in the Cresaptown area.

Rain was in the forecast Thursday with a high temperature of 58 degrees, according to the weather service.