ByBy Jacqueline L. Urgo
THe Philadelphia Enquirer
STAFFORD TOWNSHIP, N.J. — Within the next month, more than 2,200 acres of the New Jersey Pinelands, near the Warren Grove Gunnery Range, will burn.
But this fire - which officials say will be considered under control before it even starts - won’t be a repeat of the massive wildfire that started May 15 near the gunnery range during a military exercise. That blaze scorched 17,000 acres, forced the evacuation of thousands of people, and destroyed or damaged more than a dozen homes.
Now, the New Jersey Forest Fire Service has notified hundreds of residents who live near the gunnery range that sometime between now and March 15 it will conduct a “prescribed burn” in the area to help reduce wildfire hazards.
“People are probably a little nervous after what happened May 15, so we want them to know that when they see that big plume of smoke that looks like a mushroom cloud over the Pinelands, they shouldn’t panic,” said Bert Plante, a division warden for the state forest fire service who will be heading the operation.
Fifty to 100 forest fire service workers, helped by firefighters from local companies and using 25 of the service’s “brush truck” fire engines, will head into the forest and set the fires.
With controlled burns, firefighters eliminate dry underbrush and debris from trees that have accumulated in the woods, such as pine needles, leaves and fallen branches. The debris can act as tinder and fuel should a large scale “canopy fire” ignite the Pinelands.
Within three to four hours, most of the smoky work should be finished, with firefighters keeping an eye on various hot spots in the controlled burn area until the material is completely burned away and fires are put out.
Plante said the fire service was going back over areas that didn’t burn in the May fire, where a heavy “fuel load” remains that could pose a future problem.
Of most concern, Plante said, was a heavily wooded “fuel island,” a 2,200-acre area inside the state-owned Stafford Forge Wildlife Management Area southwest of Route 72.
Oddly, the area remained virtually untouched by the massive May 15 fire, which left acres and acres of the ecologically significant Pinelands charred for miles around. A smaller area along Route 539 east of the bombing range and west of the Garden State Parkway in the Bass River State Forest also will be set ablaze by firefighters.
Plante could not say exactly when the forest fire service will conduct the burn, because the work is so dependent on weather.
“We need to have just the right conditions as far as wind, humidity and other weather conditions,” Plante said.
The aftermath of the May fire - caused when a practice flare dropped during a military training flight exercise ignited brush and started the fast-moving blaze - still gives some residents pause.
“I hate to see any more destruction of the woods,” said Jack Smith, 68, of Warren Grove, a self-described “Piney” who said his family has lived in the area for three generations.
“I think we all understand why they have to do it, but any fire is certainly scary to see after you’ve been through a real fire here,” said Smith, who was one of 6,000 people forced from their homes in May when fire consumed 24 square miles of Pineland forest. Three homes were burned to the ground; another dozen sustained significant damage.
That fire was the fifth accident caused by maneuvers at Warren Grove’s bombing range, and it sparked an intense military investigation into operations at the base. A resulting revised safety plan called for increased measures to prevent such accidents in the future.
The federal facility, where planes do not take off or land, is considered among the busiest practice target ranges in the United States.
Used by Air National Guard and other military branches, it has been in operation since the 1940s, but after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks the gunnery range provided a well-placed practice site for fighter jets patrolling the East Coast.
When the fire broke out in May, officials said troops were making final practice rounds before deploying to Iraq.
As Warren Grove has taken on increased importance in military training, the surrounding area of this once- remote corner of southern Ocean County has grown swiftly. About 50,000 people live within a 10-mile radius of the bombing range.
Despite assurances from both the government about the range and the forest fire service about the controlled burn, some remain concerned.
“They’ve told us before that things were under control and then things have gone terribly wrong, so it’s hard to know whether we really are safe,” said Nancy Bieber, 37, who lives in the Spring Valley Lakes development, located closest to the bombing range.
“We’ve had some of the strongest winds we’ve ever had in this area recently and we are heading into what is usually the most windy time of the year, so I worry about the fires getting out of hand,” Bieber said.
But officials say fighting fire with fire is perfectly safe and may ultimately protect lives and property in the future.
“The object of these prescribed burning operations is to safeguard residents and protect properties, particularly in the populous regions to the east of the target range, by eliminating fuels that can turn a small fire into a conflagration,” state Department of Environmental Protection Commissioner Lisa P. Jackson said in a statement.
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