A brush fire that broke out in a local scrap yard ravaged 10 to 12 abandoned mobile homes on the afternoon of April 18.
Firefighters were quick to arrive at 22 Deadend Lane to combat the fire that rapidly spread to the outskirts of two surrounding farms.
Several fire companies worked to combat the flames, including Vigilant Hose, Cumberland Valley Hose and West End Fire and Rescue. companies from Walnut Bottom, Mount Holly Springs and other districts were also there to assist.
Nobody was hurt by the fire, but three Shippensburg area EMS personnel were still on site in case of emergency.
Fire police have yet to determine the source of the fire.
Saturday was classified as a “red flag burn day,” said Susan Wenger, a volunteer from Upper Frankford Fire Co. On days with low humidity, fire outbreaks are very likely, and fire police advise against burning anything outdoors, Wenger said.
Firefighterss surrounded the fire with water to isolate the area of impact. “Containment is key,” said assistant fire chief Randy Pryor, of Newburg-Hopewell Volunteer Fire Co.
Once the blaze was contained, firefighters poured water on the flames to fight it, spraying down the trees and what remained of the mobile homes.
“We were just astounded because we could see the smoking building on our way out [of the station],” said Keith Russell of Vigilant Hose Fire Co.
Russell is a student at Shippensburg University, as well as a volunteer firefighter.
At 4 p.m., the fire police called in a wheel loader to push all of the smoldering debris into one location before snuffing out the dying fire.
Raymond Johnson owns the scrap yard that caught fire. He was sitting in his workshop with his niece and a relative, David Varner, when Varner saw black smoke coming from the mobile homes. Varner called the police to alert them of the fire.
The mobile homes were vacant, except for antiques Johnson had collected throughout his life.

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