2022 NJ wildfire season: Prescribed burns (March 29th & 30th)

The New Jersey Forest Fire Service continues to conduct prescribed burns this week. The schedule of prescribed burns is dependent on favorable weather conditions.

March 29th (see NJFFS March 29th Facebook post)

Burlington County 

- Pemberton Township - Brendan T Byrne State Forest

- Pemberton Township - Private Property 

Ocean County

- Lacey Township - Greenwood Forest Wildlife Management Area

- Manchester Township - Brendan T Byrne State Forest

- Jackson Township - Municipal Property

Passaic County 

- Ringwood Borough - Ringwood State Park

Somerset County 

- Bernards Township - County Property

March 30th (see NJFFS March 30th Facebook Post)

Burlington County 

- Pemberton Township - Brendan T Byrne State Forest

- Woodland Township - Private Property 

Cumberland County 

- Downe Township - Millville Wildlife Management Area

- Lawrence Township - Millville Wildlife Management Area

Monmouth County

- Wall Township - Private Property 

Ocean County

- Jackson Township - Colliers Mills Wildlife Management Area

- Manchester Township - Brendan T Byrne State Forest

Sussex County 

- Andover Township - Kittatinny Valley State Park

Obtained on March 30, 2022 from https://www2.census.gov/geo/maps/general_ref/stco_outline/cen2k_pgsz/stco_NJ.pdf

2022 NJ wildfire season: March 28th update

 As I write this, it is abnormally cold with windy conditions as we approach spring fire season. We are also in a period of abnormally dry conditions in the northern part of New Jersey. I am not sure what these abnormally dry conditions bode for New Jersey, but I suspect that in the short term the dry conditions will complicate the spring fire season as dry conditions only increase wildfire danger. Today’s Fire Weather Planning Forecast from the NWS Mt Holly provides an overview of today’s fire weather concerns. Note that this is a planning forecast, New Jersey is not under a Red Flag Warning nor is there a Special Weather Statement for elevated wildfire concerns. to make matters even more interesting there is a chance of snow showers this afternoon.

Obtained on March 28, 2022 from https://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/

Fire Weather Planning Forecast

 National Weather Service Mount Holly NJ

 1006 AM EDT Mon Mar 28 2022

 

 .DISCUSSION...

 A cold and dry airmass will be in place today. Surface dew points 

 drop into the single digits to as low as 5 below, and west-northwest 

 winds 15 to 20 mph with gusts to 25 to 35 mph. Minimum relative 

 humidity values today will range from 20 to 25 percent (a little 

 higher in parts of the southern Poconos). Although scattered 

 flurries are possible in the afternoon, measurable precip is not 

 expected.

 

 Conditions only slightly improve on Tuesday with northwesterly

 winds 10 to 15 mph with gusts to 25 mph, and minimum relative

 humidity values ranging from 20-25% for most locations. There 

 will be much more sunshine Tuesday compared to today and 

 slightly warmer temperatures in the low to mid 40s.

It is brisk and cold here but I know that the NJ Forest Fire Service is taking care of those of us in New Jersey to keep us as safe as possible from wildfires. According to the NJ Forest Fire Service Section B10  , fire towers in northern (NJFFS Section A) and Central New Jersey (NJFFS Section B) are staffed today, March 28th. Note that they NJFFS updates their website frequently so what you see may be different. I have no idea if these towers have a source of heat, if not it is cold. Likewise, if there is a wildfire, no matter how small, crews from the NJFFS along with local mutual aid as applicable will fight the wildfire.

Thank-you NJFFS!  

In honor of women's history month: women in aviation in the U.S. over 100 years

 In honor of women's history month, I want to share a nice video from Mike Machat on "Women in Aviation - From the early pioneers to today's talented female aviators." The focus here is on female aviators in the United States. I enjoyed this video and I hope you do as well. Allow under nineteen minutes to watch the video. 

2022 wildfire season: first IMET deployments of 2022

About three weeks before the annual Incident Meteorologis (IMET) continuity of excellence exercise (March 7 to 11, 2022), the first IMET in 2022 was deployed on February 19th. The IMET, from the US National Weather Service Office in Las Vegas was deployed to the Airport Fire near Bishop, California that was contained on or about February 26. 

In the past week, two more IMETs were deployed. One of these deployments, to a wildfire in Ohio,  serves as a reminder that IMETs are a national resource. 

March 16th deployment

March 18th deployment

IMETs save lives!

2022 NJ wildfire season: fire activity and prescribed burning (March 21)

The New Jersey Forest Fire Service continues to be busy working wildfires to keep us safe and finishing up with prescribed burns. 

A wildfire was reported on Saturday, March 20th in Leisuretown, Southampton Township (Burlington County, NJ). This 50 acre wildfire is currently at 75% containment.

NJ Forest Fire Service Fire Towers are being staffed:

In the meantime prescribed burns are being conducted today, March 21st in Morris County, Somerset County and Ocean County.

BAe-146 retardant drop (Billings MT)

I sometimes like to post aviation videos on Friday. Today I wanted to share a video of an air tanker drop, one that I had not shared previously. I found this video of a BAe-146 airtanker working with a lead plane on a wildfire north of Billings, Montana. I am not sure the date of this drop, that does not matter. Enjoy this video uploaded by TC's Aviation Studio.

Direct link to video on YouTube uploaded by TC's Aviation Studio.

About Incident Meteorologists

Last week the US National Weather Service Incident Meteorologist's (IMET) had their annual Continuity of Excellence Exercise (see my March 9th post for more information).  See this article from kivitv about this training. As a part of this annual training exercise, there was a media day on March 10th. Here is a video from KTVB about IMET training and the important role that IMETs play in helping wildland firefighters stay safe.

Direct link to video from KTVB

See also this March 9 story from KIVITV about what IMETs do.

IMETs save lives!!

About prescribed burns in New Jersey

Direct link to video from the NJ Department of Environmental Protection

I do try to use this blog to highlight what the New Jersey Forest Fire Service (NJFFS) does to keep us safe from wildfires. One of the things that the does to keep us safe in late winter and early spring is conducting prescribed burns. In recent weeks I have been posting about when and where the NJFFS has conducted prescribed burns, see for example my March 4th post.

As I was preparing for today's post,  I reread this February 9th news release from the NJ Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) on the NJFFS 2022 prescribed burn season. I must have given this news release a more careful read than I did a few weeks ago, as I noted a couple of links to YouTube videos about prescribed burns, one of which tI shared above on how the NJFFS uses and constructs plow lines in southern NJ in preparation for conducting prescribed burns. I found this insightful and I hope you do as well. I never stop learning.

When I came across the following Facebook post shared by the NJFFS A7-8 Association on Facebook earlier this morning, I knew that I had to share it with you. The video was posted by the NJ Department of Environmental Protection who was on scene earlier this month during a prescribed burn at the Bass River State Forest in the NJ Pine Barrens. In this video you will hear from the Shawn LaTourette, the Commissioner of the NJ DEP, Greg McLaughlin, Fire Warden and NJFFS Chief, and Dave Golden, Assistant Commissioner for Fish and Wildlife talk about how and why the NJFFS conducts prescribed burns in New Jersey.

A day in the life a NWS Incident Meteorologist

 I wrote about the annual NWS Incident Meteorologist (IMET) Continuity of Excellence Exercise on March 9th. This week the NWS Incident Meteorologist Facebook page continues to make a series of nice posts about this training and related matters. Today I am going to share four posts highlighting a day in the life of an IMET, these three posts are summarized here. 

A typical day in the life of an IMET: 4:30 AM to 6 AM

A typical day in the life of an IMET: 7 AM to 10 AM

A typical day in the life of an IMET: 11:30 AM to 2:15 PM

A typical day in the life of an IMET: 7 PM to 10 PM

NWS Incident Meteorologists: 2022 Continuity of Excellence Exercise

The US National Weather Service Incident Meteorologists are in the midst of their 2022 Continuity of Excellence Exercise or CEE. The IMETs are meeting in Boise Idaho this week (week of March 7th) for CEE with what sounds to me like an opportunity to review important forecasting, safety concerns and other related issues that they will need when they are assigned to a wildfire to provide onsite weather forecasting. The US National Weather Service IMETs have been sharing about CEE on their Facebook page all this week. Some topics covered to date include but are not limited to probabilistic forecast messaging and firefighter safety during extreme weather events and practicing operational weather briefings. 

Of note is that there is a mentoring program for IMET trainees, there are 33 trainees this year (see this NWS IMET Face book post.

Yesterday they the IMETs had a 5K run

Next up on March 11th: a day in the life of an IMET

International Women 's Day: women in wildland firefighting

Tomorrow, March 8, is International Women's Day. I always try to honor all women who are involved in any aspect of wildland firefighting. But March 8th is special so I offer these two stories of women in wildland firefighting. These three represent just a few of the many women working in wildland firefighting to keep us safe from wildfires.

The first is from the Bureau of Land Management

The second is from the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection focusing on Ms. Ashley House, Section Warden for the New Jersey Forest Fire Service.

The third and final story is from Coulson Aviation who flies air tankers and helicopters in support of wildland firefighters on the ground. Coulson has contracts in the United States, Chile, and Australia, and perhaps other places that I am not thinking of.

2022 NJ wildfire season: prescribed burns (March 1st to 4th)

The New Jersey Forest Fire Service (NJFFS) continues with their late winter/early spring prescribed burning season as weather conditions allow. As always, conducting scheduled prescribed burns is weather dependent and the schedule may change.

The NJFFS scheduled the following prescribed burns on March 1, March 2, and March 4. In putting together this list, I eliminated duplicates, and errors are my responsibility. All of these prescribed burns are in central and southern New Jersey.

Atlantic County 

• Estell Manor City - Tuckahoe Wildlife Management Area
• Galloway Township - Other State Property 
• Hamilton Township - Great Egg Harbor River Wildlife Management Area 
• Hamilton Township - County Property 

Burlington County 

• Tabernacle Township - Private Property
• Washington Township - Wharton State Forest
• Woodland Township - Brendan T Byrne State Forest

Camden County 

• Winslow Township - Other State Property

Cape May County 

• Lower Township - Higbee Beach Wildlife Management Area
• Upper Township - Peaslee Wildlife Management Area 
• Upper Township - Private Property 

Cumberland County

• Commercial Township - Millville Wildlife Management Area 
• Millville City - Buckshutem Wildlife Management Area
• Millville City - Union Lake Wildlife Management Area

Gloucester County 

• Clayton Borough - Glassboro Wildlife Management Area
• Franklin Township - Private Property 
• Glassboro Borough - Glassboro Wildlife Management Area
• Monroe Township - Glassboro Wildlife Management Area

Monmouth County

• Manchester Township - County Property
• Millstone Township - Assunpink Wildlife Management Area
• Roosevelt Borough - Assunpink Wildlife Management Area
• Upper Freehold Township - Assunpink Wildlife Management Area
• Upper Freehold Township - Pleasant Run Wildlife Management Area
• Upper Freehold Township - Pleasant Run Wildlife Management Area 
• Wall Township - Allaire State Park 
• Wall Township - Manasquan River Wildlife Management Area 

Ocean County 

• Barnegat Township - Greenwood Forest Wildlife Management Area
• Berkeley Township - County Property 
• Berkeley Township - Crossley Preserve
• Brick Township - Manasquan River Wildlife Management Area
• Jackson Township - Private Property
• Plumsted Township - Private Property 
• Ocean Township - County Property 

GOES-T launched on March 1st

 GOES-T, the third satellite of NOAA's Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites had a successful launch yesterday. GOES-T joins GOES East and GOES West. After going through a testing period, GOES-T now known as GOES 18 will become GOES West. In May, GOES 18 will replace GOES 17, which has had some problems with its Advance Baseline Imager, as GOES West. GOES 17 will then become an in-orbit spare.

Direct link to abbreviated launch video on YouTube from SciNews

The Advance Baseline Imager (ABI) is new to the current series of GOES satellites in the GOES R series, currently GOES 16, GOES 17, and GOES 18. Here is a short description from NASA's GOES-T blog on what the Advance Baseline Imager does:

The Advanced Baseline Imager (ABI) is the primary instrument on the GOES-R Series for imaging Earth’s weather, oceans, and environment. ABI is used for a wide range of applications related to severe weather, hurricanes, aviation, natural hazards, the atmosphere, oceans, and cryosphere. ABI scans Earth five times faster with four times the resolution and three times the number of channels than previous GOES for more accurate and reliable forecasts and severe weather warnings.

Natural hazards referred to above includes detecting wildfires.

Two recent articles from space dot com discuss a malfunction in the GOES 17 ABI due to a lack of coolant in the ABI system due to a debris getting into the coolant piping system (see this article from space dot com).The ABI systems in GOES-T now GOES 18, has some fixes in the ABI so that this malfunction does not reoccur. I hope that this fix works. Here is a second article on Space dot com describing the GOES-T launch and what the satellite will do in orbit.

There are a nice group of articles on NASA's GOES-T blog covering various aspects of GOES-T including the launch and first stage rocket separation, main engine restart, and separation from the rocket.