Spring Wildfire Season continues in NJ - Easter update

The current fire danger reported by the New Jersey Forest Fire Service (which may change by the time you read this) is rated as high in northern and souther New Jersey and extreme in central New Jersey. The current fire danger may be found here. We haven't had any rain  in my part of New Jersey since last Tuesday and are due from some more rain late tomorrow night into early Wednesday.

As I write this, I am listening to online scanner feed from NJ Forest Fire Service Division B (go broadcastify link here which I understand sometimes picks up feed for Division A (where I live). I was listening to this same scanner feed earlier today (in the morning). What I can say is that the scanner traffic that I am hearing suggests that there has been some wildfire activity in central and northern New Jersey. Moreover, SEATs may have worked a couple of these fires. With one exception that I'll write about in a bit, I do not know the size or the exact location of these wildfires. Just hearing about a three-quarter acre fire somewhere in Division B (central Jersey) that is close to being contained and is in mop-up.

Just a little while ago I heard a report that a 3 acre fire somewhere in Division B (Central Jersey) was under control, that Bravo 1 (Air Tractor 602) made one drop. There may have been other fires. I am always happy to hear of one of the New Jersey Forest Fire Service SEATs working a smaller fire that is now under control. One drop on a three-acre wild fire can make all the difference in helping to keep the fire to a small size, making the job of the firefighters on the ground a little easier.

There were some wildfires in northern New Jersey that got the attention of local media over this past weekend. One was a fire of unknown size that burned in Jefferson NJ on the Newark Watershed Property, see tis article from the NJHerald on April 18th wildfire on Newark Watershed Property.

Also on Saturday the 18th, several brush fires were ignited along some railroad tracks in Warren County, perhaps ignited by some brush that caught under a special Easter Bunny excursion train. The train was held up for a couple of hours while wildland firefighters, a single-engine airtanker and a helicopter with a bucket fought these fires. For more on these fires:

• Lehigh Valley Live on the brush fires along the railroad tracks in Warren County, and a later update on these brush fires may be found here.
• WFMZ 69 News in Allentown PA reported on the brush fires along the railroad tracks in Warren County, New Jersey (Warren county adjoins Pennsylvania) reported on these fires here with a nice photo montage.

My friends from Downstown did tell me this morning that the SEAT based at Andover/Aeroflex, Alpha 3, flew for three hours on Saturday, confirming the reports of tanker activity in the media accounts.

I end with this short clip of one of the New Jersey Forest Fire Service Helos with a bucket (it may be Delta 6, but I'm not sure) filling her bucket on Saturday, April 18. I don't know the exact location where this was shot, but I am pretty certain that is somewhere in northern New Jersey.



direct link to video on LiveLeak