Fires all over

[cbplante3]

The New Jersey Forest Fire Service responded yesterday to a wildfire burning in Waterford Twp., Camden county. Upon arrival, the fire was determined to be in excess of 25 acres, and being driven by a SE wind at 15 mph with gusts over 20.
The Service responded 20 wildland engines, (type 6x), 4 tractor plow units, one type 3 obs. helicopter, and several service and overhead units. Units from 25 vol. fire departments were staged to provide structural protection if necessary.
Students were held at their respective schools until their parents could pick them up. Nearly 100 home were subjected to a voluntary evacuation, and Connectiv Power deactivated a 64KV transmission line from the Salem nuclear power plant. Several roads were closed. In all some 120 firefighters were involved.
The fire was contained at 740 acres last night at 1915 hr. By that time all residents had returned to their homes, roads were reopened, and the transmission line reactivated.
Mop-up is expected to continue for some time due to the proximity of residential areas and busy highways to the area of the fire.
The fuel type is lowland pitch pine, which means large quantities of duff, as well as the potential for extreme fire behavior, both of which were exhibited yesterday. In general, it is one of our least favorite places to fight fire.
No injuries have been reported, and the cause of the fire remains under investigation.

And so it continues. The area in question recieved 1.50" of rain on the night of 6/6. The fire is believed to have started late 6/9 or early 6/10.

Keep your tanks full and stay safe!

[SPIPER]

Good luck. This is the first year I'm stayin home instead of running to other parts of the country to fight fire, my 10yr old is spending the whole summer with me this year. Every time I watch the news I get antsy to go, but alas I must stay home.

[cbplante3]

Don't worry, Steve, we'll make up for you. We'll even tell 'em you said hello!
Looking forward to listing single resources later this week, maybe. The crews should be listed in a couple of weeks.

[mdoddsjffhnfc]

Yep, that wildfire yesterday was a busy one. My station got toned out for the fire at around 3:30 PM. We were sent to Cover Station 25-8 (Waterford Volunteer Fire) Everyone who showed up was wondering were to go, since we have never been called to that area before. You could smell the fire all the way back in Stratford and Hi-Nella. It looked like a bad fire. We need rain. If we dont get more rain, more of the NJ Pinelands could burn.

[NJFFSA16]

Originally posted by cbp3
The fire was contained at 740 acres last night at 1915 hr. By that time all residents had returned to their homes, roads were reopened, and the transmission line reactivated.
The fuel type is lowland pitch pine, which means large quantities of duff, as well as the potential for extreme fire behavior, both of which were exhibited yesterday. No injuries have been reported, and the cause of the fire remains under investigation.

Thanks for the details Bert. Your crews did a fine job, not only at this fire, but also the Double Trouble fire. Due to a defective Division A pager in section 2...I did not make the trip to Berkely Township. Given the recent periods of precip, it is hard to understand the extreme fire behavior. I was glad to see there were no injuries.

Looks like it may be an incredible summer, in light of what is going on out west already. I did not attempt to certify this year...so I'll stick around NJ and tend to business here!

A-16