Friday Fun: New Jersey Pine Barrens

Time for some Friday Fun. Enjoy these two videos from NJ advance media of the New Jersey Pine Barrens. In the first video you will get a tour of the New Jersey Pine Barrens. The second video shows scenes from Wharton State Forest located in the Pine Barrens

Direct link to video from NJ Advance Media on YouTube

Direct link to video from NJ Advance Media on YouTube

2021 NJ wildfire season: Bass River Fire Tower’s role in Little Egg Harbor wildfire

One of the New Jersey Forest Fire Towers whose observer played a crucial role in spotting the Ballanger Fire that burned 617 acres on May 16th and 17th near Little Egg Harbor Township (Burlington and Ocean Counties), NJ was the Bass River Tower located in Bass River State Forest in the New Jersey Pinelands (aka the NJ Pine Barrens). According to the New Jersey Forest Fire Service (go here for link to the NJFFS page on fire towers), The Bass River Fire Tower (located in NJFFS Division B) was built in 1937 and is 80 feet tall. Before I get the important role of this fire tower in spotting the Ballanger Fire, a little history is in order.

Up until early 2020, the Bass River Fire Tower was surrounded on three sides by 80 to 100 foot tall White Pines, planted by the Civilian Conservation Corps. In recent years, these trees had grown to a height blocking the views from the cab of the fire tower in three directions (east, north and south). This made spotting some wildfires from this fire tower very difficult. A few years ago, the NJ Department of Environmental Protection -- the New Jersey Forest Fire Service is under the umbrella of the DEP -- started the process to get approvals to clear cut about 16 acres of tree around the fire tower to improve the view from the cab of the fire tower. Objections to clear cutting were raised by citizens, some local government officials, and some environmental organizations (including the Sierra Club) resulting in a delay in getting the necessary approvals. In 2019,  the Pinelands Commission approved the clear cutting plan and clear cutting operations began in January of 2020. You may read more about the clear cut on this January 2020 article in the Atlantic City Press (paywall with a couple of free views).

Once the clear cut was completed, sometime in 2020, there were good views in 360 degrees from the cab of the Bass River Fire Tower. The importance of this controversial clear cut was highlighted by the fact that the observer in the Bass River Fire Tower was able to spot the Ballanger Fire fairly quickly after the fire ignited on May 16th. There is a nice article from the by Douglas D. Melegari of the Pinebarrens Tribune about the role of the Bass River Fire Tower's observers on May 16th. He quotes Trevor Raynor, warden from NJFFS Section B:

In January of last year, the clear-cut finally took place, and the role the Bass River Fire Tower played in detecting the May 16 “Ballanger Fire” that consumed 617 acres of the Bass River State Forest in both Bass River and Little Egg Harbor townships, according to NJFFS Section B Firewarden Trevor Raynor, in response to a question posed by this newspaper during a May 18 NJFFS teleconference with the media, “was super important.”

 

“This fire tower was only a few miles away (from the blaze) and was able to detect this fire quickly and avert disaster, honestly,” Raynor said. “If we used any other system, or relied on 911 for this fire’s detection, by the time that this fire would have been detected and reported (to us) by 911 (dispatch), it would have been at the back of people’s houses, and then it would have been too late, and surely there would have been damage to homes.” 

 

 

2021 wildfire season: prescribed burning in New Jersey (1/20/2021)

 Prescribed burning season in New Jersey continues. Yesterday, January 20th, Division B of the New Jersey Forest Fire Service conducted two prescribed burns in Burlington County, NJ

• Brendan T. Byrne State Forest, Woodland Twp.
• Wharton State Forest, Washington Twp.

I prepared the image below from Google Earth showing the approximate locations of the two prescribed burns. Both are in or near the New Jersey Pinelands (sometimes referred to as the NJ Pine Barrens).

Happy Earth Day (2020): a tour through the New Jersey Pine Barrens

On this 50th anniversary of Earth Day, please join me in taking a virtual tour of the New Jersey Pinelands (aka the New Jersey Pine Barrens thanks to Pinelands Adventures and the photography of Albert Horner. Allow about 13 minutes for the video.


Direct link to video on Youtube from Pinelands Adventures

NJ Pine Barrens can recover from a wildfire

I have found it sad to see a large area of my beloved NJ Pine Barrens burned, see for example this awesome NJ Advance Media article By Stephen Stirling with interactive satellite imagery before and after the Spring Hill Fire burned 11,600 acres last weekend; I need to warn you that you will have at least temporarily disable your ad blocker in order to see the article. However I can personally attest to seeing the Pine Barrens come back fairly quickly after a wildfire, this is the point of this article.

You may be interested in this short video report from NJ Network taken in 2008, a year after the 2007 Warren Grove Fire burned over 17,000 acres in the NJ Pine Barrens. You will see how the area burned had begun to regrow a year after the fire went through.


Direct link to video report from NJ Network

There is a good article from the NY Times published on September 25, 2018 (with photos) discussing how an area burned by a 860 acre in the NJ Pine Barrens in May 2018 had begun to regenerate by September. For those of you who are interested in the fire adapted ecosystem of the NJ Pine Barrens I found some information two evergreen trees that are commonly found in the NJ Pine Barrens and how they have adapted and even depend on fire to reproduce, the pitch pine and the shortleaf pine, and the Pinelands Alliance has a good fire ecology page (be warned that one of the videos  and the slide show requires the flash video plug-in which some of you may not want to use for security concerns).

I live a couple of hours away from the NJ Pine Barrens, I try to get down there at least once or twice a year. I usually drive by an area burned by the Warren Grove Fire a mile or south of the ignition point. I pull off in the pull off and take photos if I have my camera with me. The first three photos were taken in August 2008, about 15 months after the Warren Grove Fire. Note that you can see the cones on the dwarf pitch pines (aka pymgy pines) that only open after a fire. In the last picture you can still see evidence of the fire but of note is the growth that happened in the 15 months after the Warren Grove Fire.

Photo taken August 2008 at Stafford Forge (Rte 539 South), Warren Grove NJ 

Photo taken August 2008 at Stafford Forge (Rte 539 South), Warren Grove NJ 

Photo taken August 2008 at Stafford Forge (Rte 539 South), Warren Grove NJ 

In the following photo, taken at the same spot three years after the Warren Grove Fire, you can see the difference. You would hardly know that the area was burned in a wildfire three years prior.

Photo taken May 2010 at Stafford Forge (Rte 539 South), Warren Grove NJ 

Warren Grove Fire (Burlington/Ocean Counties NJ) - ten years later

It was ten years ago this past week that a F-16 military jet on a training mission on May 15, 2007 dropped a flare on the Warren Grove Gunnery Range from too low an altitude. The flare did not burn out, hit the ground and sparked a wildfire in the New Jersey Pine Barrens that eventually grew to 17,270 acre Warren Grove Fire.

The rains came the evening of May 16, 2007, see PineyPower’s May 16th, 6:50 PM blog entry (scroll down a bit). I’m not quite sure when the fire was contained, probably a few days later. The B10 NJ Wildland Fire Page posted the following on the bottom of their main page last week:

Section B4 Wildfire Anniversary

The 17,270 acre 'Warren Grove Wildfire', Barnegat, started on May 15-22, 2007
1 home destroyed, over 20 structures damaged. 

Flares dropped from an F-16 belonging to the 177th Fighter Wing set off this large wildfire that consumed more than 17,000 acres (73 km²) of the Pinelands and forced the evacuation of hundreds of residents.This fire burned through the following towns: Barnegat Twp, Bass River Twp, Eagleswood Twp, Little Egg Harbor Twp and Stafford Twp (accessed on May 19, 2017 from http://www.sectionb10.org/)

Judy Smestad-Nunn reported on a Wildfire Safety Council meeting in Barnegat Township, NJ on May 11, 2017 for Micromedia Publications - Ocean County. Among the main purpose of the meeting was the tenth anniversary of the Warren Grove Fire. Among those present at the meeting where representatives from the 177th Fighter Wing of the New Jersey Air National Guard. The 177th Fighter Wing accepted responsibility for the Warren Grove Fire. I know that the 177th Wing was involved in an investigation of the fire, unfortunately that report is no longer available on the internet. While the NJFFS reached out to representatives of the 177th Wing to alert them to high fire danger on May 15, 2007, it seems that the fire danger warning was never transmitted to the pilots. A F-16 dropped a live flare from too low an altitude, the flare did not burn out in time and the Warren Grove fire was born. The 177th Wing and the Warren Grove Gunnery Range have made changes in the hope that a fire like the 2007 Warren Grove Fire never happens again:

Major Still, who is a pilot for the NJ National Guard, said the range was shut down for a year and a half afterwards, and new leadership was put into place to make sure it didn’t happen again. 

‘We don’t drop flares, there are no pyrotechnics, and every user who flies on the range takes a test explaining the rules,’ he said. Pilots also have to take a fire test, Major Still added. 

The Guard has instituted a fire response plan, and in the event of a fire they would get involved more quickly, he said. 

Master Sergeant Michael Mimler said a lot of what was done to reopen the range has become a national standard. 

'We communicate with local fire services. We have fire check-ins, and a lot of other ranges are doing the same thing,' he said. A lot of great things have come out of this for communities across the country’ (obtained on May 20, 2017 from https://micromediapubs.com/ocean-county/10th-anniversary-warren-grove-wildfire/

Improvements in communications among neighboring towns, evacuation plans, and Firewise Communities http://firewise.org/ which encourages and helps resident to do what they can to mitigate the risk of wildfire damage to their home and property. I wrote about fire and fuel breaks built after the Warren Grove Fire in October 2011.

The Asbury Park Press wrote a good article on the 10th anniversary of the Warren Grove Fire and lessons learned including more information on the Barnegat Wildfire Safety Council, one of the first towns to have such a council. Among the issues that the Barnegat Wildfire Safety Council works on are what the town and her residents can do to lessen the risk of wildfires. The APP article may be found here.

Before closing, I want to spend a little time on Firewise Communities. According to a brochure on Firewise Communities that I got from the New Jersey Forest Fire Service a few years ago Firewise Communities play an important role in wildfire suppression efforts:

When a large, fast-spreading wildfire occurs, firefighters may not have the resources to defend every home that becomes threatened. Communities whose residents take proactive steps to reduce their vulnerability have a greater probability of withstanding a wildfire and reducing damage and loss. Prepared communities became part of the suppression efforts and not part of the problem in controlling a growing wildfire (I am unable to find this brochure on Firewise Communities in NJ online).

To learn more about Firewise communities you might want to start by reading this brochure, Adopting Firewise Communities/USA: People Working Together . Firewise frequently asked questions may be found at Firewise FAQs  , and finally there is a Firewise Toolkit.

New Jersey’s first Firewise Community was Hardwick Township (Sussex County) in 2004 with Stillwater and Medford becoming Firewise Communities in 2006 and 2007 respectively. Barnegat, which was impacted by the Warren Grove Fire became a Firewise Community in 2008.  New Jersey currently has 14 Firewise Communities. See this list of Firewise Communities in the United States  or view the Firewise Communities interactive map of Firewise communities in the U.S. A list of Firewise State Liaisons may be found here. The New Jersey Forest Fire Service has a Firewise page. and you may learn more becoming a recognized fire wise community in New Jersey here.

New Jersey Pine Barrens trip (Oct. 27, 2014)

I had a great time in the New Jersey Pine Barrens. Never enough time to see all that I want to see in what is a short day, considering it takes me about 90 minutes (one way) to get there. The weather was great, clear skies with temperatures in the mid to high 60s. Here is a map from Google Earth showing the places in the photos that I share here:

Approximate locations of areas in photos (10/27/14)

As is my habit on every trip to the Pine Barrens, I always stop along Rte 539 a couple miles south of where the 2007 Warren Grove Fire started to see the Pygmy (Dwarf) Pine Plain Forest. It is always special to see how the Pine Plains have come back after the fire. It is a little hard to see the Pygmy Pines from where I took the photos, but trust me, they are there. You may be able to make them out in the distance. What is always remarkable to me when I see this part of the Forest is that I do not see many dead trees. All is green. Compare this to the article I wrote in March 2009 with photos 15 to 19 months after the Warren Grove Fire, taken from the spot.

Stafford Forge Wildlife Management Area, Rte 539, Five minute drive south of start of Warren Grove Fire (10/27/14)

Stafford Forge Wildlife Management Area, Rte 539, Five minute drive south of start of Warren Grove Fire (10/27/14)

Another favorite spot of mine is Pakim Pond in the Brendon Byrne State Forest, about a fifteen minute drive north of the Stafford Forge Wildlife Management Area.

Pakim Pond, September 3 2014

Pakim Pond, October 27, 2014

After lunch, we drove back towards the Brendon Byrne State Forest, and took the road (563) down through Chatsworth driving through the Cranberry Bogs south of Chatsworth.

Cranberry Bogs, south of Chatsworth NJ

Cranberry Bogs, south of Chatsworth NJ

Cranberry Bogs, south of Chatsworth NJ

Finally, we continued down the road to the Mullica River (which joins the Great Bay north of Atlantic City). The photos below are taken on a drawbridge while the gate was down.

Drawbridge over Mullica River (near Greenbrook NJ)

Mullica River looking west

Fire in the Pine Barrens -- April 21, 1963 -- 51 years later

I believe that I first heard about Black Saturday in the Pine Barrens --  April 21, 1963 when 183,000 acres in the New Jersey Pine Barrens burned -- when I read John McPhee's book The Pine Barrens (1967).  John McPhee writes:

On April 20, 1963, the day of the forest fire in the recorded history of the Pine Barrens, the burning index shot past two hundred into interminable beyond, It was not a particularly hot day, but the vegetation was still in the cured staff, winds war blowing at about fifty miles an hour, and there was a drought. Once a fire got started, there was not much chance that it could be controlled. Actually, twelve non-continguous major fires started on that day. … The fire was so hot that it caused the surfaces of macadam roads to form bubbles. Overhead, white piles of smoke went up hundreds of feed, and against this white background, now and again, appeared black twister os smoke from pitch. Multiple airdrops were made but did not significantly help (116-7).

In his book The Pine Barrens John McPhee has a chapter on fire in the Pine Barrens. His book is well written and a quick read. If you want to get to know the New Jersey Pine Barrens and don't know where to start, I'd recommend finding a copy to read.

There is a short article in the Burlington County Times on April 16, 2014 with a few photos from the 1963 Black Saturday fires in the New Jersey Pine Barrens, thanks to my friends at New Jersey Forest Fire Service Section B10 website for making me aware of this article.

Added on April 14, 11 AM EDT. I believe that I first learned about how the ecology of the Pine Barrens is adapted to fire from reading John McPhee's book. McPhee writes:

Of all the natural phenomena of the Pine Barrens, the most startling one is the speed with which the vegetation comes back from fire. There has been so much fire in the pines for so many centuries that, through the resulting processes of natural selection. the species that grow there are not only highly flammable but are able to tolerate fire and come back quickly. (McPhee, 1967, The Pine Barrens, p. 118).

That being said, and even though I myself have witnessed how quickly sections of the Pine Barrens burned in the 2007 Warren Grove Fire have come back, a fire of that magnitude (about 15,000 acres) or larger has the potential to cause loss of property and loss of life. I dread the day that we see another fire of the size that burned on Black Saturday in 1963.

The Pinelands Preservation Alliance has some great information on the Pine Barrens and does work advocating for the Pine Barrens. The Pinelands Preservation Alliance has a webpage on Fire in the Pines with some photos and links to two videos, which I've embedded below. You will learn how the ecology of the Pine Barrens depends on fire. The first video is taken from a DVD that the Pinelands Preservation Alliance produced called The Pine Barrens: Up Close and Natural. The second video is a report from NJN News Public Television one year after the 2007 Warren Grove Fire.

Fifty years ago (April 20 1963) NJ wildfires burned 183,000 acres+

I'd like to thank my friend from New Jersey Forest Fire Service Section B10 for reminding me about Black Saturday in NJ on April 23, 1963 when some 37 wildfires began to burn out of control. No, I was not living in NJ at the time, but I suspect that if I was I would probably have known that something was going on.

I first became aware of the April 1963 wildfires from John McPhee's 1968 book, The Pine Barrens. It is still in print and I will recommend in a heart beat for any of you who wants to read about the NJ Pine Barrens. McPhee has a chapter on Fire in the Pines (Chapter 7). He writes about fires in the Pine Barrens including a  1936 wildfire where the cousin of a fire watcher having no place to escape to died holding on to a pine tree (111). 

McPhee writes about the wild fires that burned in the Pine Barrens in April 1963, here is an excerpt:

The men who fought the fire made stand after stand--first at a state highway and later at county roads, sand roads, and plowed lines--only to have the flames burst over them and force them to regroup further east. Embers went into the upper winds and advanced as much as two miles at a jump, starting new fires where they landed. Several crown fires were spread out over a six-mile front, and rolling white heat was trailed by streaks of orange flame. The fire was so hot that it caused the surfaces of macadam roads to form bubbles. Overhead, white piles of smoke went up hundreds of feed, and against this white background, now and again, appeared black twisters of smoke from pitch. Multliple airdrops were made but did not significantly help (McPhee, 1988 paperback edition, p. 117).

Please take a moment to ride a very fine article on Black Saturday in NJ, April 23, 1963. To read more about John McPhee and how his book on the Pine Barrens lead to a movement to save the Pine Barrens, read this article.

Visit to Downstown: Cranberries

The pilot from Downstown who flew me home after my visit took me on an aerial tour of portions of the NJ Pine Barrens including flying over some cranberry bogs. My friends at Downstown told me that New Jersey's cranberry bogs are within five to ten miles of Chatsworth, NJ.

Downstown's agricultural operations include various aerial application operations in the cranberry bogs. They started fertilizer applications about about two to three weeks ago not long after Bravo-1 finished her service for the NJ Forest Fire Service on May 9. My friends at Downstown tell me that they may apply as many as seven rounds of fertilizer, only dry fertilizer is applied, during the season. The cranberry season ends after the harvest in October/November. Downstown applies the last round of fertilizer after the end of the harvest, usually by Election Day (first Tuesday in November). Four rounds of fungicide are applied during June and July. There is not a lot of insect activity in the cranberry bogs, Downstown only applies insecticide two times (this differs from other crops such as corn where insecticide spraying is dominant).

I understand that Downstown has two to three Ag-Cats working the bogs six days a week, and the AT-602's work the bogs once or twice a week during the busy season. The busy season lasts from mid-May through July. Aerial applications are either dry fertilizer applications or liquid applications.

I know that I have driven by cranberry bogs during day trips to the Pine Barrens. I have no idea if I drove by the cranberry bog you see in the photos below.

The body of water in the photo below is one of the reservoirs used to flood the cranberries for harvest.

In the photos below you get a good idea of the flat terrain of the Pine Barrens.

Downstown uses the small, private air strip you see in the photo below.
 

And here are some more photos of cranberry bogs.

I took the last photo as we were leaving the bogs, here again is long shot of the Pine Barrens.

About the NJ Pine Barrens

Two great videos from the Pinelands Preservation Alliance. These and other videos by the Pinelands Preservation Alliance may be found on their youtube channel.

I have witnessed the growth of baby pitch pines after fires. It is awesome to see. To read some of my earlier posts about the NJ Pine Barrens, go here, the latest post is at the top.

Fire breaks in the NJ Pine Barrens

One of the the fire mitigation projects under way in the Pine Barrens in NJ is the construction of fire breaks in Stafford and Barnegat, towns within the Pine Barrens. I wrote last February, about the planned construction of a fire break along Pancoast Rd. in Barnagat and a similar project on Hay Road in Stafford.

In my wanderings recently on the internet, I came across an article from Courier Post Online, that the construction of fire breaks is currently under way in both Stafford and Barnegat. The article says in part:

Long-planned fire break projects are under way in Stafford and Barnegat. Over the last four years the state Forest Fire Service methodically burned more underbrush during controlled conditions, setting up blocks of less-flammable forest to help defend against future wildfires.

"We've been doing some work on Hay Road (near the Stafford Business Park) and Pancoast Road" in Barnegat, said Bill Edwards, a district fire warden.

Work by contractors involves thinning trees alongside the roads to create a defensible zone that firefighters can use to head off an advancing blaze.

Contractors get valuable oak and pine out of the projects, and the 2007 fire actually delayed the Hay Road contract by burning up a lot of good wood, Edwards said.

"That was a project that was in the works before the fire," he said.

Both the unpaved, sand Hay and Pancoast roads are wagon trails through the Pine Barrens that make logical lines of defense, for wildfires cannot be stopped by brute force with hoses, only with strategy and maneuver that aims to deprive fires of fuel before they arrive.

I'm not certain how long the link to the Courier Post Online will be active, and there is a photo montage of a fire burning in the Pine Barrens, I understand from this post on the wildlandfire hot list (where I first saw this article), that the fire shown in the slide show is not the 2007 Warren Grove Fire (the fire referred to in the article), but is the 2008 Atison Fire that also burned in the Pine Barrens. The photo montage includes photos of a SEAT working the fire and a helo doing bucket work.

The NJ Forest Fire Service just put out a publication called Best Management Practices for Creating and Maintaining Wildfire Fuelbreaks in New Jersey's Wildland Urban Interface, it is a very nice, short, easy read to read publication with a nice glossary and photos. Construction of a fuel break is something that most homeowners can do, perhaps with some help of an arborist to remove trees. The publications provides some how to tips for constructing fuel breaks. While written by the NJ Forest Fire Service for New Jersey residents, I think that it some of the information crosses state boundaries. So, I'd recommend reading it. You may click on download the publication in pdf format.

Historical NJ Wildfire (1985) Monroe Twsp. (Middlesex County)

A friend of mine sent me a link to an article about wildfire that burned hundreds of acres in April 1985 in Monroe NJ. Before I get to the fire, the article reminded of the extent of the NJ Pine Barrens ecosystem. For example, there is an isolated parcel of the Pine Barrens in Middlesex County that the article refers to as the Spotswood outlier (north of the protected Pinelands). Many people tend to think of the NJ Pine Barrens as being one and the same as the federal and state protected Pinelands in southern NJ. However, the larger Pine Barrens ecosystem extends beyond the borders of the protected Pinelands. The Pine Barrens are especially prone to wildfires. If my thinking is correct, the 1985 Monroe Twsp. fire was in the area referred to as the Spotswood Outlier, a 12 mile by 12 mile pine barrens ecosystem that includes Thompson Park where the NJ Forest Fire Service has its Jamesburg fire tower.

There were enhanced fire conditions on Friday April 19, 1985 with a relative humidity around 24 percent along with winds of about 18 mph. At 10:58 AM a NJ Forest Fire observer stationed at the Jamesburg Fire Tower noticed smoke about two miles north-northeast of the tower in some pine woods. The result was a 700-acre fire and one of the largest firefighting efforts in the history of Monroe Township. The fire was declared under control on April 20 around 3 PM, but was not declared out until 18 days later. The fire was human caused.

For more on the fire, read this article from The Sentinal. I don't know how long this article, dated April 15, will be freely available.

For more information about the NJ Pine Barrens, you may want to check out PineyPower and the Pinelands Preservation Alliance.

I am not familiar enough with the area to pinpoint the area of the 1985 fire with any degree of certainty. If I am able to find such a map to show you, I'll post it here at a later time. In the meantime, I am posting an image from google earth showing Middlesex County NJ and environs. The area labeled Jamesburg, NJ is in the general vicinity of where I think the fire was located.

Firebreak to be constructed in Barnegat NJ (in the Pine Barrens)

The last large wildfire that burned in the New Jersey Pine Barrens was the Warren Grove Fire that burned over 15,000 acres in May of 2007. In January 2009, I wrote about a couple of trips I took to the Pine Barrens with references to the Warren Grove Fire and posted some photos of how the area has come back after the fire, go here to read this post.

Among the areas affected by this fire were clusters of residences in Barnegat and Stafford Townships NJ. These communities adopted a fire safety plan in November of 2008 that included the construction of firebreaks. Someone recently sent me this article from the Asbury Park Press about a planned firebreak along Pancoast Road on the border of Barnegat and Ocean Townships in New Jersey. I believe that this firebreak may have been a part of the fire safety plan passed in November 2008.

Note that this article may only be freely available until this Thursday, Feb. 25. The article says in part:

A nearly three-mile long fire break to protect adult communities in Barnegat got a green light Friday from the state Pinelands Commission, a step toward what fire wardens say will be a 200-foot wide selective thinning of a dense pine-oak forest along Pancoast Road on the boundary of Barnegat and Ocean townships.

The plan is similar to a project along Hay Road in Stafford, and likewise inspired by the great May 2007 forest fire that forced thousands to evacuate their homes west of the Garden State Parkway. Since then, the commission, the state Forest Fire Service and municipal officials have been working with community groups to be better prepared against wildfires.

The plan was presented last weekend to one community meeting in Barnegat, where a longtime resident told of a 1928 fire that destroyed his family's home, division fire warden Gergory McLaughlin recounted to commissioners Friday at their monthly meeting in Pemberton Township.

In the event of another major blaze, "this fire break is our last ditch attempt to protect those communities and our firefighters," McLaughlin said. ...

The plan is to selectively remove trees up to 200 feet from the north side of Pancoast Road, along 2.9 miles, and create "a more open, park-like forest," and lower the shrub height somewhat but not completely clearing to the ground, McLaughlin said. That aims to reduce the "fire ladder" of flammable low growth that can light the fuse for a fast-moving "crown fire" that burns high in the forest canopy and quickly skips from tree to tree, he explained. State foresters would periodically maintain the fire break to manage its growth density and fuel levels.

(Kirk Moore "Fire-break planned along Barnegat-Waretown line" Asbury Park Press, February 19, 2009, obtained on February 21, 2009 from http://www.app.com/article/20100219/NEWS/100219115/Fire-break-planned-along-Barnegat-Waretown-line).

What is a firebreak? According to the Glossary of Wildland Fire Terminology of the National Wildfire Coordinating Group (NWCG) a firebreak is a natural or constructed barrier used to stop or check fires that may occur, or to provide a control line from which to work.

In an ideal situation, I would of waited a couple of more days to post this to allow myself time to try and find out some more information for you. But if I did that then I risked having an expired link in my article, so I am posting this today. If I am able to find more information on this firebreak, I'll make some follow-up posts.

In the meantime, I'll be making a couple of more posts on BAER and hydromulching so stay tuned.

Out of Ashes: 15 to 19 mo after fire in NJ Pine Barrens

We took a trip to the NJ Pine Barrens this past Sunday, driving south on County Rte 539 through an area in and around the Stafford Forge Wildlife Management area that was burned in the May 2007 Warren Grove Fire. This fire burned in excess of 15,000 acres.

Looking at the google earth image, I believe that the fire started where the yellow pin is off of County Rte 539 in Warren Grove, NJ. To see a blog written at the time of the fire plus a more detailed map of the fire area see this blog from pineypower. The area where I took the pictures is about a five minute drive south of Bombing Range Road.

The photos are taken in an area of the Pine Barrens known as the Pine Plains, a forest of rare dwarf "pygmy" pitch pines. The pygmies stand about five feet tall, meaning that most adults can look out over the "tops" of the forest pygmy pines and scrub oaks. The "pygmies", as I like to call the dwarf pitch pines, are specially adapted to fire. That is, the cones require the heat of fire in order to open. If you look carefully at a couple of the pictures, you will see burned pines with open cones, those are the burned trunks of pitch pines (both dwarf and taller pitch pines. Out of the ashes comes life, literally. Look at the small pitch pines growing and the young scrub oak in two of the pictures (taken in late Aug. 2008).

You will notice the dead oak leaves in one of the pictures. I took that photo on Sunday. Many oaks hang onto their "dead" leaves through the winter, not dropping them until the spring when the tree is ready to leaf out.

Fire Safety Plan adopted in two communities in NJ Pine Barrens

In my wonderings recently on the NJ Pinelands Commission website, I found this draft version, Fire Safety Initiative: Stafford and Barnagat Townships (NJ). I skimmed it several days and was especially interested in plans to build fire breaks along residential areas in the two townships that are especially vulnerable to wildfires. I made a mental note to add spending some quality time with this plan to read up on what they are planning to do.

Just this morning, I was reading the posts in the general discussion forum on wildland fire when I came across a post in a thread on news from the NJ forest fire service community with a link to this Nov. 8th article from the Asbury Park Press reporting that Stafford and Barnagat Townships have officially adopted this plan.

One of the policy issues relating to wildfires that I am interested in relate to issues facing communities such as Stafford and Barnagat Townships in NJ who are on the wildland/urban interface. These two communities are in the NJ Pine Barrens near the Warren Grove military base. In May 2007, a fire, known as the Warren Grove fire, burned 10,000+ acres including portions of both townships. If I am not mistaken, the Warren Grove fire was started by a flare dropped from a military plan from Warren Grove on a training run. I believe that this fire safety plan was adopted, in part, in response to this fire.

final update on Sauders Ditch Fire

Sorry for the delay in posting this update. The forum thread about this fire on wildland fire reported yesterday morning (27 October) that the fire is 100% contained after the area received .58 inches of rain over the weekend with some smoke. Mop up continues. Acreage burned is 1,950.

And see this newspaper article.

I expect that the received more rain today, not as much as I did, but perhaps they received enough rain to help the remaining firecrews who are mopping up.

Sauders Ditch Fire - 70% contained

I have been relying on reports posted to wildland fire as my primary source for my posts about this fire. According to this mornings report (8:30 AM EDT on 10/24/08), 1,950 acres have burned and the fire is 70% contained. The main problem has been heavy smoke conditions made worse by inversion. Heavy smoke lead to the closure of U.S. Route 206 at 10:30 PM last night. Schools in nearby Hammonton Township are closed today as well.

Officials expect to reopen the highway once the inversion lifts this morning. Weather reports calls for winds from the east which are expected to clear the smoke for the highway and from the nearby town of Hammonton, NJ.

Sauders Ditch Fire update

According to a Star Ledger report around mid-day, the fire is at 50 percent containment and is not expected to spread outside of the remote area where it is burning unless there is "sudden increase in winds."

Route 206 in the area of the fire may be reopened today.

Sauders Ditch Fire (Pine Barrens, NJ)

The fire that I wrote about last night, aka the Sauders Ditch Fire, continues to burn tonight according to reports on wildlandfire.com. The fire jumped U.S. Route 206 last night, and the areas of greatest concern are to the east of the highway. Winds are an issue.

The report (written about noon today) reports that air support in the form of two helicopters and a fixed wing aircraft were scheduled to be deployed around mid day for water drops.

The Star Ledger reports that the fire has charred 1,800 acres and is 40 percent contained. Residents in four houses who evacuated yesterday were allowed to return today. Rain is not expected until this weekend so the fire may not be controlled until then or later, depending on the rainfall.

If I understand what I have been reading on wildlandfire about this fire, the fire started on the west side of U.S. 206 in the Atsion area before jumping the highway to the east side. The graphic is from google earth with a (kml) file from the modis active fire mapping program of the U.S. Forest Service. I can't speak for how up to date this information is as the modis files shows no fires east of U.S. 206 yet the latest reports that I saw all speak of fires to the east of the highway. At the very least this gives you an idea of the locale of the Sauders Ditch fire.