2025 Wildfire Season: Progress on Brushfires in Suffolk County NJ

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, perhaps the larger one, is at 80 percent containment and three other forest 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

2025 Wildfire Season: Multiple Wildfires in Eastern Suffolk County

 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 News 12 on YouTube

2025 New Jersey Wildfire Season: Baler Wildfire, Bergen County

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. 

• NJ Advance Media
• News12NewJersey (with video)

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.

2025 New Jersey Wildfire Season: High Fire Danger on March 8th

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.

Special Weather Statement

National Weather Service Mount Holly NJ

412 PM EST Fri Mar 7 2025

DEZ001>004-MDZ012-015-019-020-NJZ001-007>010-012>027-PAZ054-055-

060>062-070-071-101>106-090000-

New Castle-Kent-Inland Sussex-Delaware Beaches-Kent MD-

Queen Annes-Talbot-Caroline-Sussex-Warren-Morris-Hunterdon-

Somerset-Middlesex-Western Monmouth-Eastern Monmouth-Mercer-Salem-

Gloucester-Camden-Northwestern Burlington-Ocean-Cumberland-

Atlantic-Cape May-Atlantic Coastal Cape May-Coastal Atlantic-

Coastal Ocean-Southeastern Burlington-Carbon-Monroe-Berks-Lehigh-

Northampton-Delaware-Philadelphia-Western Chester-Eastern Chester-

Western Montgomery-Eastern Montgomery-Upper Bucks-Lower Bucks-

Including the cities of Wilmington, Dover, Georgetown,

Rehoboth Beach, Chestertown, Centreville, Easton, Denton, Newton,

Washington, Morristown, Flemington, Somerville, New Brunswick,

Freehold, Sandy Hook, Trenton, Pennsville, Glassboro, Camden,

Cherry Hill, Moorestown, Mount Holly, Jackson, Millville,

Hammonton, Cape May Court House, Ocean City, Atlantic City,

Long Beach Island, Wharton State Forest, Jim Thorpe, Stroudsburg,

Reading, Allentown, Bethlehem, Media, Philadelphia, Honey Brook,

Oxford, West Chester, Kennett Square, Collegeville, Pottstown,

Norristown, Lansdale, Chalfont, Perkasie, Morrisville,

and Doylestown

412 PM EST Fri Mar 7 2025

...ELEVATED RISK FOR FIRE SPREAD SATURDAY...

There is an increased risk for fire spread on Saturday for New Jersey,

southeastern Pennsylvania, Delaware, and northeastern Maryland.

Minimum relative humidity values will fall to between 25 and 30 percent.

This will be combined with west to northwest winds of 10 to 20 mph

and gusts up to 30 mph. These conditions will support the rapid spread

of any fires that ignite, which could quickly become difficult to

control.

Outdoor burning is strongly discouraged. Be sure to properly extinguish

or dispose of any potential ignition sources, including smoking materials

such as cigarette butts. Refer to your state`s forest fire management

agency for more information on burn restrictions for your local area.

2025 New Jersey Wildfire Season: Small Brushfire in Jackson NJ

 

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.

2025 New Jersey Wildfire Season: An Early Start to the Spring Wildfire Season?

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.

2025 New Jersey Wildfire Season: March 1st and 2nd

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

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

— New Jersey Forest Fire Service (@njdepforestfire) March 3, 2025

WILDFIRE UPDATE: Fort Mott Rd - Pennsville Twp, Salem County

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

— New Jersey Forest Fire Service (@njdepforestfire) March 2, 2025

Friday Fun: Coulson 737 Pilot Shares About a Typical Day

 It has been awhile since I have posted a Friday Fun aviation video. I saw this video on " A Day in the Live of a 737 Tanker Pilot" from Coulson Aviation a few days and knew that I had to share it with you. Follow Jonas, a Coulson 737 Tanker pilot as he takes you through a typical day. Allow over eleven minutes to watch the video, it is worth the watch. Enjoy.

Direct link to video from Coulson Aviation on YouTube

2025 Australia Bushfires: Tasmania (February 22)

 I have been thinking about the current bushfire season in Tasmania, Australia, see the Tasmania Fire Service for current local information. According to a February 22nd report on ABC News Australia, this is the third week of a bushfire emergency in Australia with 97,700 hectres burned (241,422 acres) burned and gusty winds have made it difficult for responders to fight the bushfires. The New South Wales Rural Fire Service continues to provide support to Tasmania.

Members continue to support Tasmania with fires burning on the state's west coast. Remote area firefighters, inserted via helicopter, are working to extinguish hotspots on remote fire edges. Two RFS helicopters also remain deployed, providing winch and waterbombing support. pic.twitter.com/VF5grnNid4

— NSW RFS (@NSWRFS) February 22, 2025

2025 New Jersey Prescribed Burning Underway

Direct link to video from the New Jersey Forest Fire Service on YouTube 

Today, Feb 24, @NJDEPForestFire plans to conduct prescribed fire operations in Burlington, Gloucester, Hunterdon & Ocean counties.

🔥 Active / upcoming prescribed burn map: https://t.co/rOnoLpw39A
🔗 More info about prescribed burning: https://t.co/KkuhK2hswN pic.twitter.com/R1qttx2l5n

— New Jersey Forest Fire Service (@njdepforestfire) February 24, 2025

The late winter/early spring prescribed burning season in New Jersey is underway.  I saw the first notifications about prescribed burns in New Jersey on the New Jersey Forest Fire Service's (NJFFS) account on X (formerly known as Twitter) on February 22nd. The video that I embedded above was uploaded by the NJFFS in early spring of 2024. It is a nice short video with good information on the benefits of prescribed burns. The NJFFS has a nice page describing their prescribed burning program including some history, information on planning including the fact that the prescribed burning season is limited to October 1 to March 31, and conducting the burn along with other information. The NJFFS first conducted prescribed burns in 1928. The NJFFS has a good summary of prescribed burns on that page:

The primary purpose of prescribed burning in New Jersey is to reduce the hazardous accumulations of forest fuels. This aids in the prevention of wildfires, reduces the intensity of the fires, and also provides a foundation for safer, more effective fire suppression and protection operations.

It has proven to be an effective and economical practice in protecting New Jersey's forests and safeguarding the state's residents. While the principle reason for prescribed burning is wildfire hazard reduction, it also has numerous secondary benefits, including:

• Wildlife habitat management
• Site management for forestry activities
• Ecological plant and animal management
• Forest disease and pest control

• Nutrient recycling
• Grassland management
• Improved accessibility
• Enhanced appearances

 I will keep an eye on the prescribed burns that the NJFFS is conducting.

Coulson Aviation Retired the Phillippine Mars

 

Direct link to video from 12NewsAz on YouTube

The JRM Mars aircraft or flying boats were built in the early 1940s with delivery of the First Martin Mars in 1945. I believe that only seven were built. 

In 2007 Coulson Aviation bought two JRM-1 Mars aircraft, The Hawaii Mars iI and the Philippine Mars. These aircraft or flying boats were used for aerial wildland firefighting. The Hawaii Mars II saw its last stint fighting wildfires in 2015, when there were no buyers the Hawaii Mars II was retired to the British Columbia Aviation Museum a few months ago. The Philippine Mars required some maintenance overhauls before it could be retired to the Pima Air and Space Museum. The Aviationist has a nice article on the Philippine Mars and the other Martin Mars flying boats, go here to read this article (I hope this link works for you, my apologies if it does not.)

Direct link to video from Tobyn Burton Aviation Videos on YouTube

Direct link to video from AirRailImages on YouTube

As you can see from the videos that I have embedded above, the Philippine Mars took off from Sprout Lake in British Columbus on February 9th.

The legendary Philippine Mars is on her way to Arizona, and thanks to our partnership with SKYTRAC, you can track her journey in real time!  #coulsonaviation #philippinemartinmars 

📍 Track her progress here: https://t.co/Giv1mJwYdm pic.twitter.com/x65yHOpZeY

— Coulson Aviation (@CoulsonAviation) February 9, 2025

She arrived at Lake Pleasant Arizona on February 11th.

The Philippine Mars has arrived in Arizona! ✈️ After an incredible journey from Sproat Lake, she’s now en route to her forever home at the Pima Air & Space Museum. A historic chapter closes, but her legacy lives on. #philippinemars #aviationhistory #coulsonaviation pic.twitter.com/oVJs1iQ2Xn

— Coulson Aviation (@CoulsonAviation) February 12, 2025

The Philippine Mars was disassembled for transport to the Pima Air and Space Museum where it will be assembled before going on display at the museum go here for more information.

2024 Wildfire Season: Blue Mt Fire Lehigh Twshp PA (Nov 2-8)

Direct link to video by Northeast Bravest on YouTube

I am often, on the lookout for current or past wildfire activity in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic areas of the United States. This is another situation where I found the video that I shared about by accident because I had looked at another video by Northeast Bravest on YouTube when I saw a couple of videos of footage from the Blue Mountain Fire that according to this November 8, 2024 Lehigh Valley News Article burned approximately 600 acres near Lehigh Gap in Northampton County, Pennsylvania. I believe but am not certain that the wildfire started on November 2nd. The fire was contained on November 8th. I enjoyed watching this five-video seeing helicopters and buckets and backhoes working the fire along with some nice fire footage. I may of heard about this wildfire at the time, but I was very busy following the 2024 fall wildfire season in New Jersey at the time. I am not meaning to make excuses, but it was all I could do to focus on the wildfire situation in my own State of New Jersey.