SCHUYLKILL HAVEN - Wind fanned the flames of a small pile of burning trash and scorched about an acre of land in South Manheim Township on Saturday.
Matthew Johnson, 22, of 551 Deiberts Valley Road, South Manheim Township, said he was burning a trash pile about the size of a gas can when the wind spread the flames about 5:30 p.m.
"It just took off," he said.
Johnson said he threw dirt on the fire to smother it and then tried to put it out with water, but neither course was effective.
Fire companies from across the county responded to the fire. Tankers were also called in.
"It was a controlled burn that got out of control due to the wind issue," Josh Donatti, Schuylkill Haven borough duty chief on scene, said.
The Schuylkill Haven fire department was dispatched to the scene at 5:44 p.m. It took between 30 and 45 minutes to get the fire under control, Donatti said.
No firefighters were injured, he said.
"Thanks a million, man," Rodney Blankenhorn, owner of the property, said to the firefighters on scene.
Blankenhorn called 911 after trying to put out the fire and getting burned on his arms, ear and hair on his face.
He said he was OK.
"He just went to burn some garbage, and it got away on him and caught the field on fire," Blankenhorn said of Johnson.
Ben Readinger, a Department of Conservation and Natural Resources warden with the North End Fire Company, Pine Grove, said people can underestimate weather conditions.
"It's just that time of year. Things are a lot drier out than people realize," he said.
Responding to the fire were the following fire companies: Schuylkill Haven Fire Department; Good Intent, Llewellyn; North End Fire Company, Pine Grove; Summit Station Fire Company; Friedensburg Fire Company brush units; Landingville Fire Company; Deer Lake and West Brunswick Fire Company; Auburn Fire Company; Phoenix Park Fire Company, Pottsville; and Citizens Fire Company, Palo Alto.