Fire crews from Mahoning Valley, Lehighton and Jim Thorpe were called to battle a brush fire behind the Bagel Bunch on Mauch Chunk Street in Mahoning Township just before 10 Thursday morning. Franklin Township and East Penn Township were also requested at the scene for extra man power, with East Penn being canceled before responding.

The fire started as an employee of Bagel Bunch was burning cardboard behind the business. He said that he looked away for a few seconds and an ember must have been caught by the wind and ignited the brush near the bottom of Flagstaff mountain. The fire quickly climbed the mountain making it difficult to put out because the firefighters needed to climb the mountain to catch up to the head of the fire.

It took crews about an hour to call the blaze under control. In addition to the fire companies, Lehighton Ambulance was also at the scene.