South Park Fire summary

I have been writing about the South Park Fire that is still burning near Tabernacle NJ in the Pine Barrens in Burlington County. I have nothing new to report, but thought I'd summarize what I reported in update # 2. At a minimum, the fire has burned about 600 acres and may have burned 1,000 acres. Twenty-five structures are or were threatened. I do not know of any mandatory evacuations, but there have been some reports of voluntary evacuations. Media reports indicate that containment is at at least 30% and may up to 50% containment.

I just talked to my friends at Downstown Aero who tell me that Charlie-1 was released from the South Park Fire, back to Downstown, at about 2:30 PM. Charlie-1 has flown a few smaller fires in Division C this afternoon. Bravo-1 is back on standby at Coyle. He also told me that in addition to the observation helo, they had one Huey with bucket working the South Fork Fire. Finally, Alpha-2 and Alpha-3, the two Grumman (biplane) Ag Cats on duty at Andover-Aeroflex were grounded due to the winds.

I am reposting some photos that my friends at Downstown Aero sent earlier today. These were taken from Charlie-1 (Air Tractor 602) about 7 AM this morning. They are posted below with the permission of Downstown Aero Crop Services.

updated on July 18, 2013: video that I had embedded here is no longer available. :-(