Week 2 of Spring Fire Season in NJ

Our SEATs have been on contract here in NJ for a little over a week now, the exact start date depending on the Division. My friends at Downstown Aero have told me that there were a few instances in all three divisions where the SEATs flew initial attack on smaller fires. I also know from reading the current NJ wildfire activity section* on the New Jersey Forest Fire Service (NJFFS) Section B10 website that there has been light to moderate initial attack activity for the past week or so, where initial attack could involve ground crews as well as SEATs. 

The only wildfire in NJ of 100 acres or more that I know about (there could well be others that I don't know about) is the Hampton Gate Fire that I wrote about yesterday. Recall that two SEATs (Turbo Cat and Air Tractor 602) As I write this, the latest information that I have on this fire is from the Wildland Fire hotlist - eastern region forums where they report that fire remains at 75 percent containment having burned 150 acres. There remains unburned fuels in the interior of the fire that are inaccessible, there is no threat posed. Containment will not be reached until these fuels burn themselves out. The Star Ledger published a short article on recent wildfire activity on April 7, go here to read the article.

As I write this, I have been listening to online scanner from broadcastify for NJFFS Division A. I think, but am not 100 percent certain, that one or two of the SEATs based at Andover Aeroflex have made at least one drop, possibly more on fires. I have no idea of the size or location of this fire, if the fire is small and contained quickly then I may not know because I don't have easy access to that sort of information. What is important is that the SEATs may be flying in Division A. SEATs are deployed to fly initial attack in hopes of assisting the ground crews in knocking the fire out while the fire is small in size. If I should hear more concrete information about what I am currently listening to on the NJFFS Division A scanner, I'll provide an update to this article. 

*The current NJ wildfire activity section of the Section B10 website is updated every few days, so you may see different information from what I reported here when you access the site.

April 8, 3:40 PM

Right around the time that I originally posted this article, I started to hear reports of smokes on the NJFFS Division A scanner feed about smokes in the Budd Lake area of Morris County. Some of the smokes were near a New Jersey Transit line. I continued listening, hearing that the two Ag Cats (Alpha 3 and 4) had finished up with another fire and were being deployed to the Budd Lake fires. I confirmed this with my friends at Downstown Aero who confirmed that Bravo 1 was then on her way from Coyle Field (Division B). I just saw footage on News 12 NJ on TV (web access restricted, nothing on web when I wrote this) who sent their news helo to the area. I saw the fire near the train tracks from the News 12 helo footage. As the news anchors reporting on the fire, I saw Bravo 1 (Air Tractor 602) fly over the fire from the helo footage. So far, I can only link to this article from NJ dot com and another article from the Daily Record (covering a small fire that burned on Sunday as well as today's Budd Lake fire). I'll post an article later tonight with any updates and hopefully some news footage that I can either embed or link to.