JEFFERSON COUNTY, Pa. (WJAC) — We're still following a wildfire in Jefferson County that's burnt thousands of acres of land, requiring crews from multiple counties to assist.

About 25 minutes north of Brookville, smoke rises from a ridge overlooking the Clarion River.

"This one's the worst I've ever seen in 23 years of being a firefighter," says Ian Critchlow, the No. 2 assistant chief for Marienville Volunteer Fire Company.

That's what a number of firefighters tell me, including David Smith, the Sigel Volunteer Fire Department chief.

"This is probably the biggest one in my position that I've ever dealt with up in this area," he tells 6 News. "A fire of this size, it's probably been relatively to a hundred years from what I've been told by the locals, since they've seen a fire of this size in this particular area."

MORE | Crews from multiple counties battling large forest fire in Jefferson County

The fire began before 1pm Wednesday.

"Yesterday's report was in excess of a thousand acres," Smith says, noting, "We're having conflicting reports on that total amount, but we believe it's between one and 2000 acres at this time."

He tells us crews stayed at the scene through the night to protect this building. He says on Thursday they have about 10 fire units and a number of EMS personnel on scene.

"We used a lot of resources yesterday beyond what we already had," Critchlow tells 6 News, "and pulled from several other counties to assist with the home company here."

He took 6 News for a four-wheeler ride on trails high up on the ridge.

Asked how long he's been working at the scene, he says, "Several hours. About 10, 12 hours yesterday. Then we're going on six hours right now."

"It's very, very tiring, especially working in everything that's burnt," Critchlow also says. "You gotta constantly be on the lookout for any tree that's burnt and a lot of tops are falling off cuz the trees are burnt. A lot of walking from ridge line, the ridge line, cutting the fire breaks and putting out the hotspots."

Even in the areas where they've put it out, smoke still rises and fire crops up here and there. Smith tells us that, as far as damage goes, the fire's primarily affected the woods.

As for the cause, he says "it's undetermined at this time. " He adds that "the forestry investigators are here and they're going to investigate the origination of the fire."

He also says they hope to have this wrapped up sometime on Thursday. But he notes that's only if the winds cooperate, the humidity comes down, or if we get some showers.

In a Facebook post on Thursday night, Sigel Volunteer Fire Department says "the fire was contained within its burned area."

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