Tamaqua residents began noticing the smell of heavy wood smoke before 8 a.m., spurring them to check their homes and businesses to see if their properties were on fire. One resident on Pine Street was so concerned, he called the Schuylkill County Communications Center shortly before 9 a.m. to report the odor. Firefighters from the American Hose Company responded, checked out the house, then told dispatchers the smell was coming from the controlled burn of a large brush fire on property owned by the Borough of Tamaqua, next to the Tamaqua Sewage Treatment Plant. It took only a few minutes more for the smoke to make its way into the borough. Rob Jones, Tamaqua Public Works Director, says the controlled burn is an bi-annual event, usually done when there is light rain. Atmospheric conditions this morning caused the smell and smoke to become overpowering. By 9:30 a.m., borough workers had shut down the controlled burn.