2008 wildfire fatalities

For a summary of 2008 wildfire fatalities, see this post from wildfire today.

Kittatiny Ridge hike, Oct. 1995

In my entry of December 22, 2008, I wrote about the 750–acre wild fire on the Kittatinny Ridge of early September 1995. A few weeks later, after the fire was 100 percent contained, my friend and I took a hike up to the ridge to see the area of the wild fire for ours selves. I have noted in the images from Google Earth included above the approximate location of where we parked and where one edge of the wild fire was. As I write this, I am looking at a map of this area from the NY–NJ Trail Conference with a notation that the area that I am writing about is within the boundaries of the Worthington State Forest. Please keep in mind that I am going by memory, aided by the fact that I know what trail we took the ridge.

Remembering that we took a trail known as the Douglas Trail which joins the Appalachian Trail (AT) just over one–half mile south of Sunfish Pond and remembering looking to my right to see one portion of the burned area, I came up with an approximate location for one edge of the fire. You approach the Douglas Trail from River Road, off of I–80 west near the Delaware Water Gap (on the border of NJ/PA border). If you look closely at the topographical map, you might be able to make out a dashed line climbing the ridge not far from an approximate location of the parking area where we parked off of River Road.

If memory serves, in 1995 there was a backpackers camping area at the junction of the Douglas Trail and the AT. I remember that this was a cleared area. I mention this backpackers camping area because we ran someone who had some affiliation, either with the NJ Forest Service or with the NY/NJ Trail Conference. I availed myself of the opportunity to ask him how the fire started and s/he told me that it was an “illegal” campfire. The illegal notation is important because at the time of this fire, there was a Statewide ban on all outdoor campfires in NJ as well as similar bans in adjoining areas of NY and PA because of the drought.

It is possible, but I don’t exactly trust my memory on this point, that as I was glancing to my right and seeing the burned area, that this burned area was “across” the trail from the backpackers camping area. The backpackers camping area being one lilkely place for an “illegal” campfire.

My point being that I recall being saddened by the fact that fire was of human origin, but then I understand that many wildfires are of human origin.

My other point being that with the possible exception of hikes in the NJ Pine Barrens, this was the first time that I recall being up close and personal with an area that was burned in a wild fire. I recall the charred understory and the burned tree trunks (sometimes known as snags) devoid of much of their limbs.

We have since slacked off on our day hiking, and while I am pretty certain that we have visited this area of the ridge after the October 1995 hike, it may have been eight or nine years since we have been to the ridge. Since I have been both thinking and writing about this fire, I do want to hike up the ridge –– climbing 1,000 feet in elevation –– on the same trail this coming spring or summer. I am somewhat heavier than I was thirteen years ago, and I have problems with my knees. I want to see for myself how the area burned in 1995 has recovered.

I have always remembered the images of seeing these burned areas that had burned a month earlier, a reminder of the power of fire. And a reminder of the human origins of many fires.

Fire on Kittatinny Ridge (NJ): Aug 31, 1995

Up until September of 1995, I don’t recall ever seeing the aftermath of a wild fire (forest fire) up close and personal. Nor had one impacted me the way that what I will call the Kitattiny Ridge Fire did. I say impacted me because we did quite a bit of day hiking that summer and fall, and the Kitattiny Ridge (north of the Delaware Water Gap) was one of our favorite destinations. What follows are my recollections, with acreage burned and dates taken from newspaper reports.

Memory is a funny thing. I want to say that I have clear memories of the summer of 1995 being an extraordinarily dry summer, due to a somewhat prolonged drought. What I can say is that since I have been reading and learning about wild fires over the last several weeks, I am much more aware that extraordinarily dry conditions are one of the precursors of wild fires. Knowing this, I can replay my memory tapes from that summer of 1995 and know that it was only a matter of time before something happened. I think that I recall that most, if not all, of the parks, forests, and recreation areas prohibited campfires that summer.

I recall hearing and reading about a fire on the Kittatinny Ridge, north of the Delaware Water Gap when the news broke. See the image (from Google Earth) showing the approach to the Kitatinny Ridge from I-80 and the location of the fire (about two to three miles north of I-80 on the Ridge or just south of the two bodies of water.

A few weeks ago, I found a New York Times article dated Saturday, September 2 1995 jogged my memory. According to this article, the fire started on Thursday morning, August 31 near a camping area along the Appalachian Trail. Twelve hours later, firefighters had held the fire to about 90 acres. Then, sometimes Thursday night or early Friday morning, Mother Nature intervened in the form of a cold front and associated winds. The fire jumped control lines. The New York Times reported the fire as being “out of control.” By Friday afternoon (Sept. 1) somewhere around 300 acres had burned.

If memory serves, the fire was straining the resources of the local fire crews. At the time, I was not aware of the existence of the NJ Forest Fire Service, but I expect that they were involved in fighting this fire. I only remember thinking –– with a sense of respect –– that most of the local fire departments were (and still are) volunteer squads. I knew that there was a real battle going on the ridge between the fire and those who were fighting the fire. I remembering hearing media reports that resources from out of state, probably from adjoining states came to help us fight the fire.

I had an idea where the fire was, it was on the top of the ridge, and a few miles of the Appalachian Trail were closed down. I wondered how bad the damage was. I suspected, perhaps from television and newspaper accounts of the fire, that the fire had human origins.

In a NY Times article dated, September 5, 1995 (a Tuesday), it was reported that the fire was brought under control, but not yet contained, on Sunday, Sept. 3. The final tally, per the NY Times was about 750 acres burned.

The dry summer of 1995

I remember the dry summer of 1995. We were doing quite a bit of day hiking that summer and I was aware of the ban on camp fires in the areas were we hiked. Not because we did overnight hiking and were camping out, but because I paid attention to news reports on the effects of the drought. In addition, in areas where we were frequent hikers, I recall noticing low or dried–up streams.

I knew enough to know that dry conditions meant fire danger. Two fires that summer are fixed in my memory. The first fire was a fire that burned the Long Island Pine Barrens, I later realized the fire was known as the Sunrise Fire. The media reports of the Sunrise Fire made an impression on me because eastern Long Island was a second home for me. In all the years that I spent living first in New York City and later in New Jersey, I heard about fires in the Pine Barrens of New Jersey but I don’t recall hearing media reports of fires in the Long Island Pine Barrens. I’ll write more about this fire and its aftermath in a little more detail in later blog entries.

The second fire burned a few hundred acres in the kittatiny ridge in New Jersey, in an area where we frequently hiked. This fire, of suspicious origins, started after the Sunrise Fire. Stay tuned for more on this fire, especially its aftermath.

More on the Long Island of my youth

For the first several years of my life we were living in Massachusetts. When we traveled to Long Island from Massachusetts my Dad would drive to New London, Connecticut and take the ferry to Orient Point. Orient Point is at the end of the northern fork of Long Island. If memory serves, the drive to East Setauket was about one hour. I seem to recall that the area we drove through was predominantly farmland until we got just east of Port Jefferson. Depending on our exact route, it is possible that we may have driven along the northern edge of the Long Island Pine Barrens.

When I was fourteen we moved to Maryland and approached Long Island from the west, through Staten Island, Brooklyn and Queens before getting to Nassau and then Suffolk county. When we got to my Grandparent’s house, we spent most of the time in the immediate area of East Setauket. So, it was not until I was in my late twenties that I went for a drive east, retracing some of the route to Orient Point. I had a desire to revisit the farmlands and open space that I remembered from my childhood.

I was in for an awakening. I drove to Port Jefferson and proceeded east. Port Jefferson was the same. The area east of Port Jefferson was not. New housing developments, shopping centers, and office complexes were built where open space once stood. After about 30 minutes of this, I turned around and went back. I don’t think that I made it as far as the northern edge of the Pine Barrens.

Speaking of the Long Island Pine Barrens, I never thought about them much when I was younger. Depending on our route, I may have only seen them a couple of times, and I don’t think we ever did more than drive by. They were so different from the forests of northern New England that I may not have even recognized them as forests.

I do remember driving out to eastern Long Island in the summer of 1994 and seeing the Pine Barrens from the highway. I knew that they were something special. But we did not get out to visit them. I regret that. We have not been back since.

copyright 2008 K. Tyler Miller

Grandma's house on Long Island

My home away from home up until I was thirty was my Grandparents home in East Setauket, NY on the north shore of Long Island not far from Port Jefferson and Stony Brook. There was a farm next to my Grandparents house, perhaps 30 or 40 acres. I can still remember strolling down the farm lane with my sister and my Grandmother when I was a little girl.

There were several nearby places to swim, at least when I was growing up. One was perhaps one-half to one mile down the road. It was nothing more than a patch of sand with a nearby dock where you could rent a rowboat and tool around the cove. Or at other times, we would walk the other way, go onto the beach and walk below the high tide mark. For the water front property owners owned down to the high tide mark. So, anyone could walk below the high tide mark. This was a great place to gather shells. And look for horse shoe crabs.

Finally there was a town beach that was a five or ten minute drive from our grandparents house. A beach with a float and a Good Humor ice cream truck. When we were teenagers, my sister and I would sometimes walk to the town beach, cutting through the old farm lane to the road leading to the beach.

The farm is long gone. It was sold after the elderly couple who owned the farm died. It languished for a few years untouched with only a new road going in from the street. I am going to say that it was sometime in the early 1970s when the farm was sold. This property was developed, not quite sure when, perhaps sometime in the 1980s

My grandparents house used to be the farm house. A sprawling house with an absolutely awesome porch on the side facing the cove. We would sit out there on nice evenings with my grandparents, walking on the railing trying not to fall into the holly bushes.

It was a simple time. With simple memories.

I returned later for visits, sometimes seeking sanctuary from whatever life was throwing at me at the moment. My Grandma and Grandpa would take me in for a few days. I'd watch tennis or baseball with my Grandpa and walk along the road on the shore with my Grandma. And eat. I still remember her macaroni and cheese and the toll house cookies she would make when we visited.

Memories of what seemed to be a simpler time.

John McPhee and Eddie Parker's cousin

One of the books that I have been reading is a book called The Pine Barrens written by John McPhee in 1967. As I understand it, this book was one of the movers that lead to the preservation of the NJ Pine Barrens through the Pinelands Commission. If any one you out there want to get a feel for the NJ Pine Barrens -- both the ecosystem and her people -- go and pick up this book.

Naturally, he has a chapter on wildfires. I want to cite one of my favorite passages:

One of the first lessons in forest-fire survival is: Get into burned ground. But this is not always easy. Head fires can also be as much as half a mile deep. Lateral fires can be only a foot deep, but they can also be a hundred feet deep. In 1936, a cousin of the fire watcher, Eddie Parker was caught in the middle when a head fire and a backfire came together. He had to time to get to burned ground. The last living thing he did was to kneel as he burned, and embrace a pine tree (McPhee, The Pine Barrens, p. 111)

I have never been near a wild or forest fire. If I was caught in a forest fire, I think that I would embrace a pine tree.

holiday fire safety

I was at the CAL FIRE website to see if there had been any recent wildfire activity in CA over the last few days because I had seen some posts about red flag warnings on wildland fire. CAL FIRE did not report any wildfire activity.

However, I thought this page on holiday fire safety to be a useful and timely reminder.

timeout: I'm back

I am back in town from my meeting and am starting to catch up with myself.

I can briefly follow-up on my last post about double-decker NJ transit trains. I realized on Saturday afternoon when I was riding back to NJ with a friend from out of town one perhaps disadvantage in the double-decker design. That is, the overhead luggage racks are smaller in the double-decker trains perhaps because the train has to be smaller in order to fit through the tunnels into NYC. Not a big thing for commuters who don't have luggage. But both my luggage and my friend's luggage did not fit in the luggage rack.

timeout: double decker trains

I am not exactly a frequent rider of NJ transit commuter rail, the last time I rode NJ transit trains was one year ago. The first thing that I had to do was to get myself to the train station and park my car. Finding parking near a train station in NJ is not always an easy thing to do. I am fortunate to have a good friend living within an easy walk of a train station who lets me park my car in their driveway while I am in NYC. What wonderful friends!

As the train pulled into the station, I noticed that the train was one of the new double decker trains that NJ transit rolled out a year or two ago. I sat on the top level and enjoyed a smooth ride. I was on a double decker over night Amtrak train a few years ago where you sometimes felt a slight swaying on the top deck. Not so on the NJ transit train. But I was only on this train for 30 minutes, a mere drop in the bucket compared to the overnight down south.

If memory serves, these double decker trains are a little shorter in height than other double deckers, e.g. Amtrak, in order to fit in the tunnels into Manhattan.

For someone who doesn't ride trains all the often, I certainly did enjoy the novelty of riding a double decker. I had been wanting to ride one of these double deckers but had no expectation that I would be able to. I wonder if I will ride a double decker on my return trip?

Reflections on wildland firefighting and where I am going

This is not going to come out right, but I'll try. The more that I read about fighting wildfires, the more respect that I have for wildland firefighter. The more I read, the more I realize that wildfires are very complex, that techniques that work to contain one wildfire may not work on another. After a few weeks, I think that I might be starting to get a handle on some of the lingo, different types of wildland fire fighters, the different agencies, the differences between fighting wildfires in NJ and those out west. However, I can not begin to put what I am learning into words. Rather, I hope that whatever little knowledge and insight I have might help me as I begin to pursue my own special interests in wildfires.

I'm just beginning to get a handle on where my interests in wildfires will take me. I ask for your patience as I have some more reading and research to do before I say anything here. It also might be a couple of weeks before I can say anything substantial about this new direction in this blog. I have some business to attend over the next several days.

I will keep up with the blog in some way over the next several days, but I may or may not be writing about my journey of learning about wildfires.

In closing, what I can say is that I have new found respect for those who fight fires, whether you be wildland firefighters, structure firefighters, or a combination of the two. And these words feel wholly inadequate.