The Spring Hill Fire was first reported about 1:45 PM on Saturday, March 30th in Penn Forest in the New Jersey Pine Barrens. The Spring Hill Fire is located in Barnegat and Woodland Townships, Burlington County NJ. When first observed by the Apple Pie Hill Observation Tower, the fire was very small. The video from NJ Advance Media that I embedded above was shot on the afternoon of March 30th when the wildfire was at about 1,000 acres. During the next several hours the wildfire grew to 5,000 acres. A SEAT flew the fire yesterday as well as a helicopter with a bucket. Voluntary evacuations were in place, but there were no mandatory evacuations and no residences have been damaged or destroyed. It is possible that some hunting cabins have been destroyed. Road closures remain in place. The latest update has the fire at about 10,000 acres. At last report the fire is at 75 percent containment. There was some rain that moved through the area this morning into this afternoon, however while the rain will help it may is not enough to put out the fire. According to John Rieth (reported by the Asbury Park Press (March 31st, 1:52 PM) :
As of noon Sunday, about 75 percent of the fire is contained, but not under control, said John Rieth, an assistant warden with the New Jersey Forest Fire Service.
A wildfire is under control when the threat of it spreading has been halted, and that hasn't yet happened, Rieth said.
There are no threats to structures and no reported injuries or property damage, but local fire departments are standing by in case that changes, Rieth said. On Saturday, Burlington County activated its wildfire strike team.
The fire grew from about 8,000 acres to 10,000 acres Sunday morning, but the growth is in part because the state's forest fire service is fighting the wildfire by setting fires around it to stop it from spreading, Rieth said.
The fire control line may even expand out further than the 10,000 acres, Rieth said. Ten thousand acres is equal to about 15.5 square miles.
To place the Spring Hill Fire in context, David Livinisky of the Burlington County Times wrote about large fires in Burlington County in a March 31st article about the Spring Hill Fire:
Forest fires are not unusual in New Jersey’s Pinelands forests. The forests sandy soils and pines are highly combustible fuel, particularly during warm, dry and windy days in the spring. But fires as large as this one are infrequent.
This fire is believed to be one of the largest to spark in the county since May 2007 when an F-16 jet on a training mission over the Warren Grove Bombing Range near the border of Burlington and Ocean counties dropped a defensive flare below the minimum required altitude. The resulting fire burned more than 17,000 acres over six days.
The last major fire to threaten homes in Burlington County was in April 2014 when more than 1,300 acres of pine forests and brush burned in Woodland and Tabernacle between Sooy Place Road and Route 532. That fire was far smaller than a 1992 fire than burned more than 13,000 acres in Burlington and Ocean counties and forced the evacuation of about 150 Woodland residents and the closing of the Chatsworth Elementary School.Thanks to the ground crews and air support of the NJ Forest Fire Service along with mutual aid firefighters for all your work on this fire. Thanks for keeping us in New Jersey safe. Stay safe.
Some media reports on the Spring Hill Fire
NJ Advance Media with photo gallery (March 31st, 12:45 PM)
Asbury Park Press with photo gallery (March 31st, 1:52 PM)
ABC 6 Philadelphia (March 31st, about 1 PM, video from early AM)
I will continue to follow the Spring Hill Fire and will report back with updates. Stay tuned.
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