Rifle Range Fire (Wharton St. Forest, NJ) - seeing the fire from above

I went on a flying yesterday, another "scenic airplane flight", but more accurately it was a photography flight. My idea for this flight was to go to the NJ Pine Barrens, and see from the air that which until now I had only seen from the ground. I had an idea of a route, staying away from restricted air space where military operations take place in the Pine Barrens,. About an hour before the flight I found out that the Rifle Range Fire (about 100 acres at the time) was burning near Atison in the Wharton State Forest in the NJ Pine Barrens, see a post dated 6/27 in this wildland fire hotlist thread

As you can see from the photos at the end of this article, we flew near the fire. Before I get to writing more about the fire, which I will do tomorrow, I want to talk about what we (the pilot and I did) to stay safe in the air, and not get in the way of the any air operations over the fire.

Fortunately, I had enough information about the location of the fire, that I was able to plot the approximate location on my aviation chart of the area. I located the fire from the nearest navigation aide (14 nm off of the 263 degree radial of the Coyle (CYN) VOR. I had already checked the Notices to Airmen (NOTAM) to see if there were any that would affect our flight (there were not).

So, I  checked (TFRs) at National Interagency Fire Center Temporary Flight Restrictions , there were no fire TFRs listed in New Jersey at the time. In fact there were no other TFRs near our flight path. I knew that the New Jersey Forest Fire Service may have had two helicopters in the air over the fire (one working the fire with a bucket along with a possible second helo for observation. I located water bodies on the aviation chart near the fire where a helo and bucket could dip.

I drove to the airport and did my pre-flight on the plane we would be using. The pilot, Johnny, came and I told him about the fire. Johnny said that he saw smoke from that fire on an earlier flight. We agreed to get flight following from approach control (McGuire Approach/Departure) who controls the air space we would be flying through. Flight following means that we will be getting traffic advisories. We will know about any military aircraft in the area and aircraft doing fire operations.

When we were about 25 nm out of the fire area, we got flight following, Johnny told the controller that we were on a photo flight near the Hammonton Airport (an airport near the fire). Johnny asked about the wildfire, andt he controller did not know about it. However, a few minutes later, the controller told Johnny about the fire, giving us a location, and Johnny told the controller what we were doing, that we were on a flight to take photos of the fire. As soon as I was done, perhaps five minutes, ten minutes at the most, we left the area continuing with flight following.

The traffic advisories came in. I knew that I was in safe hands with Johnny flying the plane. Johnny had suggested early in the flight that I could open the window in the cockpit to take pictures. So, when we got close enough to the fire for good photos, I stuck my camera out the window and took some shots. While I was doing this, I had my head set off, so I did not hear the traffic advisories that Johnny got telling us about the two helos that were over the fire. Johnny told me later that he thought from the colors, that one might be a news helo. Johnny got a couple of other traffic advisories while I was taking photos.

The point that I am trying to make here is that Johnny and I did not just fly towards the fire. To do that would be unwise and possibly unsafe. We checked with the appropriate agencies for flight restrictions over the fire (none that we knew of), got flight following, and were looking out for other traffic being especially mindful of air operations over and near the fire.

Updated 6/28/11 at 10:50 AM EDT. I believe that one of the helos we say may have been a NJFFS helo doing observation work.

Be safe out there everyone.

Edited Aug 20, 8:07 PM