Fire Rescue News - Firefighters work to contain Barnegat Township fire to 1,000 acres near Warren Grove
BARNEGAT TOWNSHIP — A forest fire spotted from the Cedar Bridge Fire Tower Saturday afternoon scorched several hundred acres off Route 539 in Warren Grove and drew hundreds of firefighters from surrounding communities.
Firefighters worked into the night to contain the blaze within a tract of land of about 1,000 acres just north of Warren Grove, west of Route 539 and south of Route 72......Continue Reading with more photos
“We have 120 acres burned now but by the time we’re done it will be at least 900 acres,” Division Fire Warden Greg McLaughlin of the New Jersey Forest Fire Service said at midafternoon.
The fire started west of the old Cedar Bridge sand and gravel plant operation. McLaughlin said he was not sure how the fire started but the woods in the area had been dry. The rain that drenched some areas of southern New Jersey last week did not come here.
“Fire season usually ends the end of May as vegetation become lusher. Fires are less likely to start and spread, but we’ve had localized drought conditions,” McLaughlin said.
“It’s been a lot of thunder and lightening but no rain,” Chief Mike Wilbert of the Warren Grove Volunteer Fire Company said.
Firefighters set what are known as back-fires to burn fuel and create barriers to contain the fire within the 1,000-acre prescribed area. They also used bulldozers to knock down trees to create barriers.
There are no homes in the area and nobody had to be evacuated. As of sunset nobody had been injured.
“It’s a large expanse of unbroken woods. It’s a mix of state and private land,” McLaughlin said.
Two Forest Fire Service helicopters were used. One took firefighters aloft to study the fire while a second one dropped water and also ping pong ball-sized devices with an accelerant in them to start back-fires.
“They’re called aerial-ignition devices,” division Fire Warden Bert Plante of the state Forest Fire Service said.
A swamp in the area caused accessability problems and bogged down one of five bulldozers being used.
“That swamp is giving us fits,” Plante said.
McLaughlin said usually firefighteres would attack a forest fire “at its head and its flanks,” but in this case the goal was to burn the fuel around the perimeter of the 1,000 acres and just let everything inside it burn. A lack of wind helped keep the fire within the perimeter, although there was concern that if winds picked up and the fire jumped into another area it could burn another 1,000 acres or so.
“We’re using the back-fire to make the perimeter around it. The perimeter will lead to containment. Then we’ll let it burn out. There are no homes within the containment. It’s not under control until it can’t escape the containment line,” McLaughlin said.
While a lack of wind helped, high humidity did not. This hindered the back-fires as leaves and grass got damp, although McLaughlin said it made for a much less intense wildwife than one with low humidity.
“Low humidity and wind preheats wood in front of it. This is high humidity and it reduces the pre-heating process,” he said.
Fire is just part of life in this area. A 2007 fire just a few miles away burned 17,000 acres and led to the evaucuation of thousands of people. Several homes were damaged and destroyed.
“We’ve lived here 12 years and this is our third fire,” said Angela Kyme, who just returned from a week-long Florida vacation with her husband, Richard, and twin girls Arika and Rachel, 12, to the commotion. Their home was the closest in Warren Grove to the fire.
“We have excellent firefighters. You’re always a little bit concerned but I have utmost faith in our firefighters,” Angela said.
Richard Kyme said he mows and clears around his home just because the area, which features sandy soil and pine trees, is so prone to fires.
Besides the N.J. Forest Fire Service and its 40 firefighters, some of the companies responding to the blaze included Warren Grove, Stafford Township, Barnegat Township, Pinewood Estatesm Forked River, Waretown, Tuckerton, Bamber Lake, Lakehurst, Harvey Cedars, Little Egg Harbor Township, Ocean County Fire Marshal, and Ocean County Department of Law and Public Safety.
Contact Richard Degener: 609-463-6711 RDegener@pressofac.com
Smoke from the fire is visible Saturday over Route 539 in Barnegat Township as Barnegat Patrolman Michael Diblasi stands by his patrol car.
Photo by: Ben Fogletto
Forest Service firefighter Phillip Cunningham, of Egg Harbor City, lights a containment fire Saturday along Route 539 near the Warren Grove section of Stafford Township.
Forest Service helicopter carries water to drop along Route 539 near the Warren Grove section of Stafford Township.
