12:40 PM EDT
I posted earlier today that all of New Jersey (among other places in the northeast) are under a Red Flag warning. I just got in from attending to some errands and outside chores so have just started to listen to the
NJ Forest Fire Service Division A Scanner (online stream), so it is too soon for me to get a handle of what is happening on this Red Flag day in the northern part of New Jersey.
I did, however, check
B10 NJ Wildland Fire Page (last updated at 11:52 AM EDT) and saw that they are reporting on multiple fires (about 50 acres total in the Pemberton Township-Whitesbog Village area (Burlington County, Section B6). Bravo 1 (AT-802) and Charlie 1 (AT-602) are currently staging at Miller Air Park. There are two news reports from Philadelphia at about 6-7 AM this morning, reporting on one of the fires, a four-acre fire:
NBC10 (with video) and
Fox29 (with photos).
I'll update this post as the day goes on if I receive any updates about the wildfires in the Pemberton Township-Whitesbog Village area or any other wildfire activity in New Jersey.
5:20 PM EDT
With the exception of a 30 minute break and having to duck out to take care of the plumbers who replaced a battery for my sump pump, I've been listening to the
NJ Forest Fire Service Division A on line scanner feed for the last four hours. I know enough to know that Division A NJ Forest Fire crews have been busy this afternoon with at least a few wildfires of unknown size. I don't really know more than that at the moment.
Pemberton-Whitesbog Complex Regarding the multiple wildfires in the Pembertown Township-Whitesbog Village area of Burlington County, there have been no updates from the NJ Forest Fire Service Section B10 website since midday. But I did see a couple of newspaper articles reporting on what I think are the same wildfires that the
B10 NJ Wildland Fire Page reported on earlier today. One article is from the Courier_Post (12:35 PM) reporting on at least eight wildfires, the largest being more than 25 acres.The second is from
NJ dot com reporting that the multiple brush fires are under investigation and are being considered as suspicious, they referenced reports from the Pemberton Township Fire Department's Facebook page. Going to this Facebook page, I found a
mid-morning update, the Pemberton Township Volunteer Fire Department confirming that these wildfires are being investigated and are "listed as suspicious at this time."
A video is posted on the Pemberton Township Fire Department's Facebook page.
In a Facebook post from about
2:30 PM EDT today the Pemberton Township Volunteer Fire Department reported on five wildfires:
- Black's Bridge Fire (45 acres, 70 percent containment),
- Huckleberry Lane (25 acres, 80 percent containment),
- Rail Way (9 acres, 80 percent containment),
- Two fires in White's bog (4.4 acres) are 100 percent contained
In this same
2:30 PM EDT update, the Pemberton Township Volunteer Fire Deparments reported that their Chief and one of their tenders is assisting along with a tender from Hampton Lakes. In addition the NJ Forest Fire Service had the following resources working the fires:
- 40 personal
- 10 brush trucks
- 2 dozers
- 1 aircraft
5:55 PM EDT
The
B10 NJ Wildland Fire Page is reporting that all fires in the Pemberton-Whitesbog Complex have been contained. Bravo 1 and Charlie 1 worked this fire earlier today.
In addition,
B10 NJ Wildland Fire Page reported on a wildfire of unknown size in Manchester Township, Ocean County (Section B7). Structure proptection was needed early on, with tstructure protection engines released later. It sounds like good progress has been made on this fire, but I am uncertain if the fire has been contained Both SEATs, Bravo 1 and Charlie 1 worked this fire.
8:53 PM EDT
Pemberton-Whitesbog Complex
The folk with the Pemberton Township Volunteer Fire Company reported about
6:30 PM that all except three NJ Forest Fire Service (BJFFS) Brush Trucks have been released. The crews in the three NJFFS brush trucks will be patroling the fires and doing mop up work.
Here is a report from late this afternoon from ABC6 in Philadelphia confirming these wildfires are under investigation, that the cause is suspicious:
direct link to report from ABC6
Nice job everyone, stay safe.
May 5, 11:10 EDT
I understand from some friends in Southern New Jersey (NJ State Forest Fire Division C) that they had a busy day yesterday (Monday, May 4th) in Division C. A second Air Tractor 602, Charlie 2 was working in Division C yesterday while Charlie 1 was staged at Miller Air Park in Ocean County.
May 5, 4:28 PM EDT
Manchester Twsp Fire, Ocean County, Section B7 According to
B10 NJ Wildland Fire Page, this three-acre that burned near some homes was contained yesterday afternoon. Bravo 1 and Charlie 1 dropped on the fire. Structure protection resources deployed early were later released when the homes were no longer threatened.
Pemberton-Whitesbog Complex, Burlington County, Section B6 According to
B10 NJ Wildland Fire Page, these multiple fires (at least six) are at 100 percent containment. Total acreage burned is at least 80 acres and perhaps a little more.
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Note
B10 NJ Wildland Fire Page does update the current wildfire information on their main page every couple of days or so depending on when you are accessing this article, the information on this fire may no longer be there.
