Direct link to post from The Film Gate (with stock footage) on YouTube
I have been thinking about the CL415 Super Scoopers today because I know from a Facebook Post that Super Scoopers from Bridger Aerospace are working the wildfires currently burning in North Carolina. I want to thank Bridger Aerospace for helping my friends out in North Carolina.
It is time for some Friday Fun focusing on aviation. As a non-pilot member of the AOPA (Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association) I know that they produce interesting aviation related videos both for their members and the general public. I happened upon an AOPA video looking at an Aerial Spraying Operator in my part of the world in the Mid-Atlantic area of the United States. The video that I am sharing hear is about Chroman Spraying's aerial spraying operations. You will hear Jeff Chroman talk about the history of Chorman Spraying, their focus on aerial spraying for agriculture and learn a little about the different types of aircraft they fly, all configured for aerial operations. There is also some nice footage of their aircraft spraying. Enjoy. The video is under seven minutes.
Direct link to video from WKRN News 2 on YouTube
Thanks to my friends at the B10 NJ Wildfire Page and yesterdays edition (March 25th) of Wildfire News of the Day by Mike Archer who made me aware of the devastating wildfires in South Korea that have burned over 40,000 acres and killed 24 people, 26 are injured and more than 23,000 people were evacuated. If I am not mistaken the wildfires began on or about Friday, March 21st. The video that I embedded above was shared today on the B10 NJ Wildfire Page. It appears that weather conditions favorable to wildfires will continue in South Korea for at least a day or so.
Included among the articles shared in yesterday's edition of Wildfire News of the Day are these three articles.
The 6 minute video that I embed below is from BBC. You will learn more about these wildfires if you take a few moments to watch the video.
Direct link to video from BBC on YouTube
If you are unable to see the graphic that I shared from the post by the NJ Forest Fire Service on Facebook on Monday, March 24th at 8:30 AM, the California Branch is now contained. The California Branch fire that burned 2,336 acres in Wharton State Forest near Waterford in Camden County was first reported at 12:57 PM on Saturday March 23rd by a nearby fire tower and a second fire tower observed the same start so the exact location of the wildfire was identified. The wildfire crossed the Mullica River into Burlington County sometime Saturday night. Two campgrounds near the wildfire in Wharton State Forest were evacuated and I believe that they are now open. All roads in the vicinity of the wildfire are now open. The cause of the wildfire is under investigation. See the above NJFFS post for some photos of the fire.
Local media covering this wildfire include
March 23rd, 6 PM
As of 6 PM the California Branch Fire has burned 2,300 acres in the Wharton State Forest near Waterford Township in Camden County, NJ. It is 80 percent contained. There continue to be road closures in Wharton State Forest and two campgrounds continue are still evacuated. There are still 18 structures near the wildfire and the fire continues to move away from these structures. Crews with equipment remain on scene fighting this wildfire. For more information not detailed in the NJFFS graphic from the X platform, please go the NJFFS March 23rd, 6 PM post on Facebook. NJ dot com has a current article on this wildfire that may be found here.
WILDFIRE UPDATE: California Branch Wildfire - Wharton State Forest - Waterford, Camden County
— New Jersey Forest Fire Service (@njdepforestfire) March 23, 2025
The New Jersey Forest Fire Service continues to make significant process containing a wildfire burning in the area of Raritan Ave and Old Atsion Rd in Wharton State Forest. pic.twitter.com/A7y8pUlvDr
March 23rd, 8:10 AM
As of 8:10 AM the California Branch Wildfire has burned 1,750 acres and is at 50 percent containment.
The California Branch Wildfire started on Saturday, March 23rd in Wharton State Forest in Waterford Township, Camden County NJ, see my March 22nd post for earlier updates. By 11 PM on March 22nd, the fire had burned 1,000 acres and was at 20 percent containment according to this Facebook Post by the NJ Forest Fire Service.
According to the 8 AM update on Facebook from the NJFFS Crews from the New Jersey Forest Fire Service (NJFFS) continued to work the fire overnight and are continuing to work the wildfire as I write this. Eighteen structures are located near the wildfire but the wildfire is still moving away from these structures. There are road closures within Wharton State Forest and two campgrounds are closed. Last night the wildfire crossed the Mullica River into Burlington County, NJ. NBC 10 Philadelphia continues to report on the wildfire. The B10 NJ Wildfire Page is reporting on this wildfire on March 23rd.
Unfortunately, I am unable to embed the latest 8AM update from the NJFFS's X account, formerly Twitter. The graphic above is from the NJFFS's Facebook account which I linked to earlier in this paragraph, unfortunately some of you will not be able to see this graphic.
March 22nd, 6:15 PM
WILDFIRE UPDATE: California Branch Wildfire - Wharton State Forest - Waterford, Camden County@NJDEPForestFire is on scene of a wildfire burning in the area of Raritan Ave and Old Atsion Rd in Wharton State Forest.
— New Jersey Forest Fire Service (@njdepforestfire) March 22, 2025
SIZE & CONTAINMENT
🔥 100 acres
🔥 0% contained pic.twitter.com/ewObYYlZ05
According to the New Jersey Forest Fire Service's post on Facebook about this fire at about 4 PM on Saturday, March 22nd, there are road closures in the area of this wildfire. Eighteen structures are threatened with no evacuations. The New Jersey Forest Fire Service is on the scene with engines, bulldozers and ground crews. In addition, there is a New Jersey Forest Fire Service on the scene making aerial observations. The next update is due at 9 PM, and I will try to make an update at that time. I first learned of this fire from my friends at the B10 NJ Wildfire Page. NBC 10 Philadelphia is reporting on this fire in a report that may be found here.
March 22nd, 7:50 PM
WILDFIRE UPDATE: California Branch Wildfire - Wharton State Forest - Waterford, Camden County
— New Jersey Forest Fire Service (@njdepforestfire) March 22, 2025
The New Jersey Forest Fire Service remains on scene of a wildfire burning in the area of Raritan Ave and Old Atsion Rd in Wharton State Forest. pic.twitter.com/UDjWRQmPug
Eighteen structures remain threatened but the wildfire is moving away from these structures. The New Jersey Forest Fire Service remains on scene. This same information with more information on road closures are available on the NJ Forest Fire Service's Facebook page on a 7:45 PM post.
Direct link to video from NewsChannel 9 WSYR Syracuse
I am not intimately familiar with Syracuse but have traveled through Syracuse on more than one occasion to see family in upstate New York. Further, as I am always on the lookout for brushfires or wildfires of any size on the east coast of the United States. My thanks to Mike Archer of Wildfire News of the Day for his great newsletter that often highlights brush and wildfires that I would not always know about. Such was the case in his March 20th newsletter when I saw this March 20th article on Syracuse.com about a small brushfire that burned near a park in Syracuse, New York on March 19th. While small in size, the winds lead to 30 foot high flames that were visible for several miles. The fire was fully contained and extinguished sometime during the night of March 19th at four or five acres. As I think about this brushfire, I am reminded that there are many brushfires of this size in the eastern U.S and elsewhere that many do not know about. In particular, I am reminded of the large number of brushfires of this size in my own state of New Jersey, most of which I do not know about. Wildfire fighting crews along with mutual aid do good work in keeping many brushfires small in size in order to protect nearby businesses and residents. Still, if you live close to one of these small brushfires, it can be scary. Thank-you wildland firefighters for working these small brushfires, your work is greatly appreciated
I have been doing this blog long enough to know that both spring maintenance and annual pilot training are done by companies with aircraft that fly fires do each year. I write this post as an acknowledgement of how important each are to safety and efficiency.
This is the time of year when companies with aircraft that fly fires in the United States perform what is sometimes known as spring maintenance on their aircraft to get them ready for the fire season. While I don't know how much time is involved nor do I know the particulars of what each company with aircraft the flies fires does, I believe the spring maintenance on each aircraft may go on for several days depending on what needs to be done. In addition, maintenance is done through the fire season as required to keep the aircraft performing in peak efficiency. All companies do this those with air tankers, lead planes, and helicopters. The examples that I know of are for air tankers only, please take them as an example that will apply to all aircraft flying fires. Neptune Aviation has a few pictures of their spring maintenance on their air tankers that they shared on their Facebook account which is found at this link. Coulson shared the following on X, formerly twitter:
A well-cared-for tanker is a ready tanker! Tanker 138 is back from Western Australia and is now in for spring maintenance, ensuring it stays in top shape for the North American season. Behind every mission is a crew dedicated to keeping our fleet fire-ready. #coulsonaviation pic.twitter.com/eWZDUGjmvY
— Coulson Aviation (@CoulsonAviation) March 10, 2025
As many of you know, getting ready for the wildfire season is more than spring maintenance of aircraft flying fires. The pilots go through annual training to keep current. Again, the examples I know of are from companies flying air tankers but this applies to any pilot flying aircraft on wildfires. Dauntless Air flys the AT-802F Fireboss, and they shared about their annual pilot training on their Facebook Page which you may find here. In addition 10 Tanker referenced their annual pilot training on their Facebook account in a short video that you may see here.
Direct link to video from Dauntless Air on YouTube
On early 2009 with the help of my retired air tanker pilot friend, Tom Janney, I began to use this blog to focus on aerial wildland firefighting. Tom died in March 2024 and I wrote a post dedicated to his memory and how he helped me which can be found here. Tom helped my learn about many of the aircraft flying fires in 2009 and was always available if I had questions. Since those early days. I have had a special place in my heart for Single Engine Air Tankers, aka SEATs. Some SEATs, e.g. the Air Tractor AT-802F Fireboss scoop water out of water bodies to use in aerial firefighting. While the capacity of their tanks seems small, about 800 gallons, when compared with larger air tankers they can scoop water from a water source near the fire and make many drops in a matter of a few hours. I learned about Dauntless Air a few years ago and follow them as I can. They have a presence on Facebook and X (formerly Twitter, account required). Dauntless has a fleet of AT-802F Firebosses.
Here is a 33 second video highlighting how the Fireboss scoops water.
Direct link to video from CBS Philadelphia on YouTube
Direct link to video from NBC 10 Philadelphia on YouTube
I understand from the NJ Forest Fire Service's (NJFFS) earlier posts on X, formerly Twitter, as well as a post on the B10 NJ Wildland Fire page that the Scotland Run Wildfire in Franklin Township, Gloucester County was spotted by the Blue Anchor Fire Tower at about 3:34 PM on Wednesday, March 12. Early on 60 structures were threatened but there were no evacuations. New Jersey Forest Fire Service crews will remain on scene to strengthen containment lines and to be sure that any areas of concern are addressed. For those of you who might be interested. you should be able to look at the NJFFS's earlier posts on this fire on their Facebook account: initial report, second report and the third report. I shared their final report posted to their X account below. I added the two embedded videos to this post about 1 PM on March 14th, thanks to my friends at the B10 NJ Wildland Fire page for sharing these videos today.
WILDFIRE UPDATE: Scotland Run Wildfire - Franklin Twp, Gloucester County
— New Jersey Forest Fire Service (@njdepforestfire) March 13, 2025
At 8 a.m. on Thursday, March 13, the @NJDEPForestFire achieved 100% containment of a 191-acre wildfire burning in the area of of Pennsylvania Ave and Proposed Ave in Franklin Twp, Gloucester County. pic.twitter.com/5V9Xew4tM3
The New Jersey Forest Fire Service continued to do prescribed burning on March 10th and 12th. Due to elevated wildfire danger on March 11th (see this special weather statement from the NWS Mt. Holly) there was no prescribed burning on the 11th. Unfortunately, I am not able to share the March 10th post from the NJ Forest Fire Service on X, formerly known as Twitter regarding their March 10th prescribed burns in Atlantic, Monmouth and Ocean Counties.
Today, March 12, @NJDEPForestFire plans to conduct prescribed fire operations in Burlington, Morris & Somerset counties.
— New Jersey Forest Fire Service (@njdepforestfire) March 12, 2025
🔥 Active / upcoming prescribed burn map: https://t.co/rOnoLpw39A
🔗 More info about prescribed fire: https://t.co/KkuhK2hswN pic.twitter.com/D5PvXoHlzM
The brushfires that ignited in eastern Suffolk County, Long Island, New York on March 8th are 100 percent knocked down according to a March 10th report from News 12 Long island. I believe that they are at or near containment but firefighters may still be building line to surround the fires. Firefighters continued to work these fires on March 9th. Officials may have evidence that the fire was started accidentally on Saturday morning, March 8th be people who light a campfire in their backyard. Firefighters remain on the scene of these brushfires putting out hotspots and doing other mop-up work. You may also want to read this May 10th article on these brushfires from GreaterLongIsland dot com. For those of you who are interested, the March 10th report from News 12 Long Island includes a 25 minute video of a news conference earlier today.
I thank all the firefighters and others who responded to these fires and for keeping the residents of the east end of Long Island safe. Nice going!
Added on March 12th: There has been much coverage in various media about how the four brush fires in Eastern Long Island started. If you are interested you can go the links that I supplied in this post, or you can probably find coverage elsewhere.
There is an elevated risk of wildfires this afternoon, March 9th for all of New Jersey and some counties in adjoining areas of Delaware, Pennsylvania, and Maryland
March 9th, 7:35 AM
The crews fighting the brushfires in and around the pine barrens on the east end of Suffolk County Long Island, NY have made progress. One fire is at 80 percent containment and three other fires are reported to be extinguished. Fire Crews are remain on scene and the hope is to achieve full containment by the end of the day. News 12 Long Island continues to report on these fires, go here for their latest update. Greater Long Island dot com also continues to report on the fires, here is one of their reports featuring some videos uploaded to X formerly known as twitter taken by firefighters working the fire. A state of emergency was declared for Southampton Town in Long Island with New York Governor Kathy Hochul declaring a state of emergency shortly afterwords. National Guard and State Resources, including helicopters are available to help in the fire fighting efforts.
March 9th, 1:20 PM
A report from CBS New York quotes a Westhampton Beach Fire official saying that approximately 600 acres were burned, two commercial building were damaged, no residential buildings were damaged and there are no evacuations in place. Roadways are now open.
March 8th, 5:15 PM
Direct link to video from News12 on Youtube.
Long Island, New York; Westchester County, New York; and northeastern New Jersey are also seeing extreme fire danger today, March 8th, go here for a report from the NWS in New York, New York; they also shared a satellite image of the smoke plume. A good friend of mine who lives in eastern Suffolk County on the east end of Long Island, New York sent me a text letting me know about brushfires in eastern Suffolk County. We talked on the phone and she suggested that I look at News12, which has an outlet covering Long Island, go here for News 12 Long Island. I found the video that I shared with you on YouTube. News 12 Long Island reported on these wildfires at about 2:30 PM on March 8th. Blackhawk helicopters are working these brushfires and the Sunrise Highway, a major highway in the area is closed in some areas near the brushfires. In addition, Greater Long Island dot com is also reporting on these fires, there article may be found here.
March 8th, 7:35 PM
News 12 Long Island continues to report on this fire, according to their latest report one firefighter was injured with second degree burns to the face and two structures have burned. Eighty fire departments that have responded. Helicopters continue to work the fire. At its largest the fire was two miles long and two and a half miles wide. The fire started at about 1 PM. Their latest updated report may be found here.
The following video is a press conference on the fire with Suffolk County officials
Direct link to video from JeffStang on YouTube.
Thanks to my friends from the B10 NJ Wildfire Page who shared this YouTube video from JeffStang of footage of the Baler Wildfire that burned on March 7th in North Arlington, NJ on Baler Blvd. As near as I can figure out from having lived near North Arlington over 20 years ago. The wildfire was near 100 Baler Blvd in North Arlington, in an area that I referred to as the Hackensack Meadowlands. At the very least, you will get an idea of where the Baler Wildfire burned. Click on the image and you can get a larger image that might be easier to read. On the right side of the image is the New Jersey Turnpike I lived a couple blocks from the Meadowlands and I could see wildfires in the Meadowlands from my house, so I can say that it is not uncommon for wildfires to occur in the Meadowlands. The video is almost nine minutes long. If you watch the video, you will get an idea of what the Meadowlands looks like.
I found two media articles reporting on the Baler Wildfire. Both report that the fire was near Belleville Turnpike, a road that cuts through the Meadowlands. You might be able to make out Belleville Turnpike in the image below.
According to my friends at the B10 NJ Wildfire Page, the NJ Forest Fire Service was in unified command with the Kearny Fire Department, Kearny is in Hudson County bordering North Arlington (Bergen County). The Baler Wildfire burned approximately 40 acres of gras/marsh and was contained at about 9 PM on March 7th. I can say that the Kearny Fire Department as well as the Fire Departments from other towns adjoining the Hackensack Meadowlands are very good at working wildfires in the Meadowlands.
Elevated wildfire danger in New Jersey and adjoining areas on Saturday, March 8th. I will do my best to see if there are any major wildfires tomorrow.
Direct link to video from The Lakewood Scoop on YouTube
I am quite aware that there are innumerable smaller brushfires in New Jersey and elsewhere, however, I do not always have first hand knowledge of these brushfires. Thanks to my friends from the B10 NJ Wildfire Page who shared this video from The Lakewood Scoop yesterday. I do not know the exact date that the brushfire started, but I suspect it was midweek. This brush fire was started by downed powerlines. The brushfire quickly spread to about five acres at the time of the video was shot. There were no structures threatened. NJ Forest Fire Service (NJFFS) crews were working the fire. Watching the video I can see that local fire companies also responded to this brushfire. I do not know have any updated information about this brushfire.
My purpose in sharing this video is to highlight the hard work that NJ Forest Fire Service crews do around New Jersey in fighting these brushfires, perhaps unnoticed outside the town where the brushfire started. I applaud and thank the NJFFS crews and mutual aid response in keeping us safe. It looks to be a busy spring fire season, stay safe everyone.
Direct link to video from NBC10 Philadelphia on YouTube
I was not surprised when a friend of mine who is a wildland firefighter for the New Jersey Forest Fire Service (NJFFS) told me last night that the spring wildfire season in New Jersey has started earlier for the last couple of years as I had already posted about the wildfires over the weekend of March 1st and 2nd. My friend from the NJFFS was also concerned about the possibility of a very active spring wildfire season in New Jersey. One of the reasons I was not surprised is because of the ongoing drought conditions affecting most of New Jersey, see my graphic of the drought monitor on the right side of my blog for details. Anyway, the e-mail conversation with my friend from the NJFFS inspired me to write this post to point to the early start of the wildfire season in 2025 along with my concerns that the spring wildfire season may be worse. In the video that I embedded at the beginning of this article, you will hear that the wildfires that I wrote about on March 3rd were included in the approximately 50 wildfires of varying sizes, some very small, that broke out over last weekend. Furthermore, you will hear another official from the NJFFS say that so far this year there have been about four times as many wildfire since the beginning of 2025 compared with 2024. Remember that the fall drought contributed to a very busy 2024 fall wildfire season in New Jersey.
As a subscriber to the Courier News I had access to the North Jersey paper online, where I saw a nice but concerning article about the 2025 spring wildfire season in New Jersey. The article may be found here, and I am pretty certain that this article is freely available to you. This article says in part:
This busy start to the year comes after a very active fall wildfire season fueled by ongoing drought conditions.
"Everybody knows we were crazy in the fall. Coming off one of the busiest falls that I can recall, numbers were off the charts as far as our indices and things like that, and we took a little break over the winter," Donnelly said. "It gets dark, it gets cold, things like that, but we never really got the precip necessary to where we come into this year where things start out slow. We had a warm day Saturday, just as an example, and things went crazy."
Since Jan. 1, New Jersey has seen 215 fires with a total of 515.25 acres burned. During the same period last year, the state had 69 fires and 21.5 acres burned.
I am concerned that the stage is set for a busy and active spring wildfire season. I know that we are expecting some rain in New Jersey later today, but I don't know if it will be enough to end the drought and alleviate a possible active spring wildfire season. I urge all New Jersey residents, including but not limited to those of you living near a wildland to heed the advice given in the New Jersey Forest Fire Service's NJ Wildfire SMART page with a lot of good information about how you can keep your home safer from wildfires. I am paying attention to the information on this page because while I don't live near a larger wildland or forest, there are open spaces in the form of grasslands along with some wooded areas within a short distance of my house. Finally, while my focus here is on New Jersey, I am aware of the adjoining states of Delaware, Pennsylvania, and New York.
I thank the wildland firefighters of the New Jersey Forest Fire Service along with local fire companies who respond as a part of mutual aid for taking care to keep us safe from wildfires.
direct link to video from CBS Philadelphia on YouTube
Direct link to video from 6ABC on YouTube
The National Weather Service at Mount Holly, NJ issued a Special Weather Statement on March 2nd for an increased risk of wildfire spread due to windy conditions that started Saturday, March 1st and continued into Sunday, March 2nd. As you can see from the two videos from Philadelphia media there were at least three wildfires over the weekend. In addition New Jersey Advance Media reported on these wildfires in a March 2nd article. I have information that I can share from the NJ Forest Fire Service who reported on two of the wildfires that burned over the weekend in New Jersey, the Poor Farm Wildfire in Hopewell Township, Mercer County and a Wildfire on Fort Mott Road in Pennsville Township, Mercer County.
WILDFIRE UPDATE: Poor Farm Wildfire - Hopewell Twp., Mercer County
— New Jersey Forest Fire Service (@njdepforestfire) March 3, 2025
The New Jersey Forest Fire Service remains on scene of a wildfire burning in the area of Poor Farm Road in Hopewell Twp., Mercer County.
SIZE & CONTAINMENT
🔥 293 acres
🔥 90% contained pic.twitter.com/444MEHVPxQ
WILDFIRE UPDATE: Fort Mott Rd - Pennsville Twp, Salem County
— New Jersey Forest Fire Service (@njdepforestfire) March 2, 2025
New Jersey Forest Fire Service crews have made significant progress in containing a wildfire burning in the area of Fort Mott Rd in Pennsville Twp.
SIZE & CONTAINMENT
🔥 50 acres
🔥 85% contained pic.twitter.com/EX1riYUwyQ
