In a remote area of French Creek State Park ravaged by fire, Joseph Frassetta places his palm on the scorched forest floor and detects a trace of heat.

"Fire hides beneath the ground," Frassetta said Tuesday afternoon. "Even after it rains, it can resurface."

Three days after one of the largest - and perhaps most expensive - wildfires in Pennsylvania history was declared out, officials remain concerned that it could reignite.

Brisk easterly winds that fanned the flames for five days last week continue to blow, causing concern that the blaze could rise from the ashes.

The park remains under a declaration of extreme fire danger, a category normally reserved for desert areas of the Southwest.

Fire wardens continue to scan the dense forest from a fire tower in the park, and crews of specially trained firefighters venture deep into the woods daily to monitor conditions.

"Our greatest fear is the wind," said Frassetta, 57, state forester in the William Penn Forest District.

Ideal for fire

When a wind-toppled tree snapped electrical lines about noon on April 9, conditions were ripe for a major fire.

A blanket of dry leaves, made brittle by the lack of rain or snow, covered the forest floor. Decaying logs were joined by more recent fallen trees, casualties of the October snowstorm.

Add to that a brisk wind and the inaccessibility of thousands of wooded acres along the boundary of Berks and Chester counties.

"It was a perfect storm," Frassetta said. "The fire had so much fuel to burn."

The voracious fire blackened 741 acres inside a 7.5-mile perimeter of one of the state's largest stands of virgin forest - about one-tenth of the 7,700-acre preserve.

In Pennsylvania, where a 10-acre brush fire is considered large, the scope of what is being called the Hopewell Fire is almost unimaginable.

"This is Southwest stuff," Frassetta said, standing on a blackened mountainside near Buzzard's Trail in northern Chester County.

Elusive enemy

Pinpointing the exact location and scope of the fire proved difficult in its early stages.

There were no roads leading to it, and strong winds grounded helicopters.

"We couldn't see the fire," Frassetta said. "We had difficulty determining where it was going."

By the time firefighters reached ground zero, the fire had already covered 10 acres.

"That, in itself, would have been a big fire for us," Frassetta said.

Legions of firefighters, about 300 from 30 fire companies, waged war on the elusive enemy.

Fire apparatus created a bumper-to-bumper train that snaked along country roads dotted with 18th-century stone farmhouses.

Firefighters with chain saws, rakes and shovels ventured along smoke-filled trails into an octopus-shaped quadrant on the eastern edge of French Creek State Park.

Buildings at Hopewell Village National Historic Site, which adjoins the state park, were not threatened. The fire did, however, scorch 32 acres of the Hopewell property.

While homes along St. Peters Road in Warwick Township, Chester County, were evacuated, only one was seriously threatened by fire.

When the fire came within 100 feet of the residence, firefighters put up a wall of water that fended off the blaze.

While the fire spread mainly across the forest floor, officials had reports of flames reaching 30 feet into the air. In certain areas, firefighters were threatened by flames moving across the forest canopy.

A team of volunteers from the state Fire Wardens Association, trained in fighting wildfires with chain saws, was dispatched to topple burning trees.

"It was an extremely dangerous job," Frassetta said. "You had fire overhead and the potential for falling limbs."

The fire, the longest running in state Bureau of Forestry history, was declared under control at 4 p.m. Friday. Firefighters continued to run down hot spots Saturday and Sunday.

Crews will monitor the forest until it rains for an extended period.

Neighbors rally

Harold Fillman, 80, has lived on St. Peters Road for 48 years but never witnessed anything like the fire that came within about 300 yards of his home.

"We were sweating it out," said Fillman, a retired engineer. "On Monday night (April 9), state police with loudspeakers came by and said, 'Get out of your homes.' "

Fillman and his wife, Diane, were able to return the next day amid scores of firetrucks surrounding their house.

In appreciation, residents of St. Peters Road set up a makeshift kitchen and fed firefighters fried chicken, homemade vegetable soup and dessert for the duration of the fire.

A sign on a utility pole along St. Peters Road expresses the sentiment of those most threatened by the fire: "Thank You, firefighters, volunteers and police."

Devastation and regrowth

To the untrained eye, the blackened forest floor along Buzzard Trail would appear to be a lasting scar on prime wilderness.

After 24 years as a forester, Frassetta sees renewal amid devastation.

If there's an upside to a wildfire, he notes, it's that it clears the forest of dead wood and overgrowth that snuff out new vegetation.

In addition, the fire will have a regenerative effect on the park's wildlands.

"Where we're standing now will be a lush green carpet of vegetation come July or August," he said. "Plants that have lain dormant for decades will now spring forth."

Contact Ron Devlin: 610-371-5030 or rdevlin@readingeagle.com.

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