Historical NJ Wildfire (1985) Monroe Twsp. (Middlesex County)

A friend of mine sent me a link to an article about wildfire that burned hundreds of acres in April 1985 in Monroe NJ. Before I get to the fire, the article reminded of the extent of the NJ Pine Barrens ecosystem. For example, there is an isolated parcel of the Pine Barrens in Middlesex County that the article refers to as the Spotswood outlier (north of the protected Pinelands). Many people tend to think of the NJ Pine Barrens as being one and the same as the federal and state protected Pinelands in southern NJ. However, the larger Pine Barrens ecosystem extends beyond the borders of the protected Pinelands. The Pine Barrens are especially prone to wildfires. If my thinking is correct, the 1985 Monroe Twsp. fire was in the area referred to as the Spotswood Outlier, a 12 mile by 12 mile pine barrens ecosystem that includes Thompson Park where the NJ Forest Fire Service has its Jamesburg fire tower.

There were enhanced fire conditions on Friday April 19, 1985 with a relative humidity around 24 percent along with winds of about 18 mph. At 10:58 AM a NJ Forest Fire observer stationed at the Jamesburg Fire Tower noticed smoke about two miles north-northeast of the tower in some pine woods. The result was a 700-acre fire and one of the largest firefighting efforts in the history of Monroe Township. The fire was declared under control on April 20 around 3 PM, but was not declared out until 18 days later. The fire was human caused.

For more on the fire, read this article from The Sentinal. I don't know how long this article, dated April 15, will be freely available.

For more information about the NJ Pine Barrens, you may want to check out PineyPower and the Pinelands Preservation Alliance.

I am not familiar enough with the area to pinpoint the area of the 1985 fire with any degree of certainty. If I am able to find such a map to show you, I'll post it here at a later time. In the meantime, I am posting an image from google earth showing Middlesex County NJ and environs. The area labeled Jamesburg, NJ is in the general vicinity of where I think the fire was located.