Tuesday, April 10, 2012

Wildfire news from NJ and NY metro

Yesterday, I wrote about the South Park Fire in Burlington County, see this summary, I knew that it was being reported by various sources as being at 75% contained earlier today. I just found out that it is being reported that the fire is 100% contained at about 1,000 acres. Crews will continue to work the fire, monitoring for hot spots. Go here to see a sitrep on the fire.The Press of Atlantic City reports on this fire along with a 20-acre wildfire earlier today in Barnegat, NJ (Ocean County). The Asbury Park Press reports that the Barnegat Fire is 100% contained.

Some of you may have heard about a wildfire on the east end of Long Island in the news. That fire has burned over 1,000 acres and it is reported as being largely contained. I believe that four structures were destroyed in the blaze and three firefighters received minor injuries. See this report from NBC4 in NYC (and links to videos).

Also in NY, yesterday were the first reports of a brush fire burning in the Fresh Kills Landfill in Staten Island, NYC. Specifically, the fire is burning in a large wood debris pile. Officials say that it could be another couple of days before the fire is brought under control. For more information, there is a report on Staten Island Live.

Today while I was driving around town listening to one of NYC's news radio stations, I heard a report that there was a wildfire burning in Harriman State Park, north of NYC. Here is a short report on this wildfire from the Pleasantville-Braircliff Patch, and a second report from North Jersey dot com.

I spent a good bit of yesterday listening to the scanner for Division B of the NJ Forest Fire Service. In fact, I am listening as I write this. I heard of several reports of wildfires in Division A (north Jersey) and Division B (central Jersey). The scanner does not pick up Division C (south Jersey. For a report on yesterdays wildfire activity in northern and central Jersey see this Star Ledger article. I was listening to the scanner yesterday when I heard the first reports of what is now a 200 to 300 acre burning on the ground of Ft. Dix that has some containment as of earlier this morning.

I suspect that one of the fires that I heard being discussed on the scanner earlier today was a 20-acre wildfire in Barnegat NJ (Ocean County).  Both the Press of Atlantic City and the Asbury Park Press report that the Barnegat Fire is 100% contained. Just now I am hearing reports of what may be a new wildfire of unknown size, with NJFFS crews on route. Nice job everyone one!

The NJ Forest Fire Service Section B10 website mentioned this fire (see below for the link), These are just some highlights of some wildfires that I have heard about today, and is not meant to be an all inclusive list. The NJFFS Section B10 webpage reports on some of the recent wildfires in NJ and currently has a large fire page.

Last but by no means least, I just saw Bill Gabbert's report on east coast fires in this article. He reports on some of the same fires I touched on here -- South Park Fire, Ft. Dix, Long Island -- as well as other wildfires on the east coast. Thanks Bill!

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

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