NJ fire history: Warren Grove Fire (May 15, 2007)

 I did not begin to explore write\ing about wildfires on this blog until the fall of 2018, but did not begin to focus on writing about aerial wildland firefighting and related issues until early 2009. I write today's post in remembrance of the 2007 Warren Grove Fire on May 15, 2007 that burned over 17,000 acres (19 square miles) in the New Jersey Pinebarrens. I have to be honest and am somewhat embarrassed to say that the Warren Grove Fire may have escaped my attention at the time because I was getting ready for a trip to Africa. I am not exactly an international traveler, so getting ready for this trip was a pretty big deal for me. However, I have driven by some of the areas burned in the Warren Grove Fire in following years and am struck by the post-fire regeneration in the Pine Barrens. What I recall as the remnants of burned pygmy pines are now replaced by pygmy pines, other pines and scrub oak. See for example my April 2019 post on how the NJ Pine Barrens recovers from a wildfire and photos from an October 2014 trip to the Pine Barrens. 

Here is the link to a write-up of the Warren Grove Fire from the NJ DEP. This is the link referenced in the above Facebook post.