I mentioned in my last post that through April 5, there were 332 fires burning 499.75 acres in New Jersey. I want to spend a little time on some of the fire activity in March 2009. All of the links and other information that I am including in this blog entry are obtained from the wildlandfire.com forums on NJ: March 2009 Activity .
March was dry here in NJ. See this summary from the NJ State Climatologist. I was aware of the dry weather at the beginning of fire season, so I was not surprised to see reports of brush fires in NJ on the wildlandfire.com forums.
Wed.-Thurs. March 18-19
A 150 acre fire in Morris County (Parsipanny?Troy Hills). See these reports, both of which were posted to the wildlandfire.com forum referenced above:
Report 3 on March 18 at 23:15.
Final report on March 19 at 9:00.
Two small brush fires in Ocean County, NJ. See this Asbury Park Press article [“Cops: 2 suspicious brush fires set in Lacey” by Margaret F. Bonafide for the Asbury Park Press on March 21, 2009]
Sunday March 22
On March 22, the National Fire Weather Forecast for NJ:
UNTIL WE GET A PRECIPITATION EVENT, THE AREA WILL HAVE AN INCREASING THREAT FOR THE SPREAD OF WILDFIRES... IN THE NEAR TERM, THIS WILL BE EVIDENT ESPECIALLY ON MONDAY AS HUMIDITIES LOWER AND WINDS INCREASE. [obtained from http://www.wildlandfire.com/hotlist/showpost.php?p=35163&postcount=9 on April 14, 2009.
I heard of one very small brush fire near some NJ Transit Railroad tracks between Stirling and Gillette in Morris and Union Counties, NJ where the New Jersey State Forest Service was one of the responders. Perhaps there were more fires on that day that I was unaware of. [“Brush fire burns near railroad in Long Hill” for www.dailyrecord.com on March 22, 2009, obtained from http://www.dailyrecord.com/article/20090322/COMMUNITIES25/903220347/1005/NEWS01 on April 14, 2009.
Monday March 23
A Red Flag Warning covering the much of NJ and adjoining eastern PA:
The NWS has just issued Red Flag Warnings statewide for New Jersey at 1030 hours.
SUSSEX-WARREN-MORRIS-HUNTERDON-SOMERSET-MIDDLESEX- WESTERN MONMOUTH-EASTERN MONMOUTH-MERCER-SALEM-GLOUCESTER-CAMDEN- NORTHWESTERN BURLINGTON-OCEAN-CUMBERLAND-ATLANTIC-CAPE MAY- ATLANTIC COASTAL CAPE MAY-COASTAL ATLANTIC-COASTAL OCEAN- SOUTHEASTERN BURLINGTON-
1030 AM EDT MON MAR 23 2009
...RED FLAG WARNING IN EFFECT UNTIL 8 PM EDT THIS EVENING... THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN MOUNT HOLLY HAS ISSUED A RED FLAG WARNING, WHICH IS IN EFFECT UNTIL 8 PM EDT THIS EVENING. NORTHWESTERLY WINDS OF 15 TO 20 MPH WITH GUSTS TO 25 MPH WILL CONTINUE THROUGH THE AFTERNOON AND EARLY EVENING HOURS. THE COMBINATION OF THE VERY DRY CONDITIONS, MINIMUM RELATIVE HUMIDITY
VALUES OF 15 TO 20 PERCENT, AND GUSTY WINDS WILL PROMOTE RAPID FIRE GROWTH IF IGNITION OCCURS.
PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...
A RED FLAG WARNING MEANS THAT CRITICAL FIRE WEATHER CONDITIONS ARE OCCURRING OR IMMINENT. A COMBINATION OF STRONG WINDS, LOW RELATIVE HUMIDITY, AND DRY FUELS WILL PROMOTE RAPID FIRE GROWTH. [I obtained this from this link]
A Red Flag Warning was issued by the NWS for eastern PA as well.
RED FLAG WARNING IN EFFECT FROM 11 AM THIS MORNING TO 8 PM EDT THIS EVENING FOR EASTERN PENNSYLVANIA [I obtained this from this link].
I don’t know the full extent of wildland fire activity on this day or the next. But the Lehigh Valley News reported that there were eight brush fires in a 36-hour period from Monday morning March 23 through Tuesday, March 24. [Tom Quigley “Early rash of brush fires generates concern and warnings in region”, March 24, 2009 on www.lehighvalleylive.com]
The Sunbeam reported on a fifteen-acre fire on a farm in Salem County from a prescribed burn that went of control on March 23. The landowner had a permit for the prescribed burn, to burn away Phragmites (an invasive wee), but was unaware of the Red Flag Warning. [Randall Clark “Brush fires a danger county faces each spring”, March 24, 2009, www.nj.com/sunbeam]
The Star Ledger reported about one of the Warren county brush fires of March 23, one in Sussex County, and another small brush fire in Hunterdon County [Rohan Maxcarenhas/The Star Ledger “Brush fires break out in northern N.J.”, March 23, 2009].
I suspect that there are more wild (brush) fires in NJ over the last few weeks than those I have written about.
Some rain came later that week later that week and over that weekend. April has started out wetter than March, but it is still fire season.
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