NEW HOPE, Pa. – Fire crews were working for hours Friday to extinguish hot spots caused by brush fires.

Multiple fire companies were in New Hope following a three-alarm brush fire that broke out around 1 p.m.

The fire was on Lower Mountain Road in Solebury Township. The teams reported that the fire was largely under control.

“It was terrible,” Christian Bauman said. Late Friday night, firefighters were still in the woods, carefully monitoring a brush fire that had been burning in New Hope since one o’clock Friday afternoon.

“I smelled smoke and I walked by this window and looked out and the whole ridge line was on fire,” he said. Bauman can see the flares just a few hundred meters from his home.

“The wind was very strong and at first the wind was blowing that way and then it turned and came right this way and it was very scary,” he said.

Emergency crews closed roads to the affected area. It is where the New Hope Ivyland Railroad intersects with Aquetong Road. Residents say they stepped up to help firefighters who face numerous challenges.

“We’re literally having to cut roads through the bush,” said Hugh Marshall.

He lives nearby and has a landscaping contracting business in town, and says New Hope Fire has asked him and other contractors for help. He recorded video on his cell phone after bringing in eight workers with chainsaws and bulldozers to help crews reach the fire area directly.

“We have a machine that opens it and we have another machine that follows to open it so it basically becomes a firestop so trucks can get in there and put the fire out. There are fires everywhere in the back of the woods there,” Marshall said.

Officials reported that the bush fire was under control. But as the dots continue to shine, some new challenges arise.

“It’s dark now. You have to put lights in there so everybody can work, and a lot of the guys are exhausted. They’ve been at it since one o’clock,” said Hugh Hager of the Midway Volunteer Fire Company.

Ed Closson lives near the scene and assisted the digger after speaking with firefighters.

“They wanted to dig a ramp into the stream, so you put down the machine, so I started digging for them for a few days. Then they bought two big machines from the state.”

He is grateful for the work of the many fire companies that assist New Hope.

“Fortunately, everyone is safe. No houses were damaged,” Closson said.

Authorities say no one has been evacuated.