Firefighters responded in force around 3 p.m. Sunday to a large brush fire that started in the area of Pole Road, one mile off North Catawissa Road, in Schuylkill Township, near Tuscarora.

Reportedly, the fire claimed more than 500 square feet of shrubbery and a piece of heavy equipment.Responding in addition to the Forestry Department and local police were firefighters, brush trucks and tanker trucks from Tuscarora, Delano, Mary D, Tamaqua, Hometown, Quakake, Brockton and others.Members of the Tamaqua Volunteers group donated tea and water to the firefighters. Tamaqua Ambulance also set up a cooling center at the staging area for all the exhausted firefighters working in the very hot temperatures. Rush Township and Tamaqua detoured traffic around the staging area at the entrance to Pole Road. No serious injuries were reported.