MIDDLE PAXTON TOWNSHIP, Pa. -- Brush fire season is off to an early start in Central Pennsylvania.
There were two recent brush fires in Conewago Township and one in Middle Paxton Township.
Conewago Township is under a burn ban and the brush fire in Middle Paxton Township on Second Mountain is contained, but smoke is still visible.
Matt Reed, chief of wildlife operations and planning, said, "This year because of the smaller amounts of snow pack that we've had, the season has started quite a bit earlier. We've had several fires already this year and things are pretty dry right now, especially in the eastern part of the state."
Many of these fires are caused by people.
"Don't burn on a bad day when it's windy like this and the sun is shining like this. It's not a good day to burn debris," Reed said.
Some are created by controlled burns that grow out of control.
Dover Township Fire Chief Brian Widmayer said, "The problem usually with the controlled burns is lack of situational awareness. People don't really look at the wind conditions and how dry it is prior to starting it."
And wind can be a major problem.
Widmayer said, "There's a lot of factors that go into that: the terrain, where the fire started at, accessibility, as well as wind. Wind can play a huge factor into it with how fast it pushes it or if it takes debris and lifts them up into the air and takes them over to another area and starts a second fire."
The biggest issue for the volunteer fire departments that have to combat these fires is the lack of manpower.
"You need a lot of people very quickly to contain it. You need to get ahead of it and try and predict where it's going to go before it gets there. Unfortunately with less and less volunteers, there's less and less people to try to contain these brush fires and before you know it its out of control and everyone's trying to play catch up," Widmayer said.
The consequences of a brush fire can be devastating.
Reed said, "Just think about the fact that if you do start a fire, you could be impacted more than just your own property. You have neighbors property, you have state and private forest lands. And catching the forest on fire could affect more people than just you."