Forest Fire Safety

Forest fires can and will happen in Burlington County, and here’s some things you should know about protecting against them.

As spring winds down into summer, you’ll find April showers bring more than just May flowers — they also bring forest fires.

March, April, and May are home to some of the first forest fires of the season in the Garden State. Residents in Shamong Township witnessed this earlier in the month when a roughly 300-acre forest fire hit Wharton State Park.

Luckily, no homes were damaged and no evacuations were made. The cause of the fire is still under investigation, which investigators say may not conclude for another few weeks.

“Most of the fires — 99 percent — are human caused,” said Assistant Division Forest Fire Warden John Rieth. “It could be as simple as using a piece of machinery without a spark arrestor. It could be somebody emptying their fireplace ashes into their backyards. People throw cigarette butts out of their windows. There could be a whole slew of reasons why fires start.”

Every day in Burlington County, fire wardens conduct at least two weather readings. The information gathered from these readings, including humidity, wind and temperature, all go into determining the day’s danger level for forest fires.

“But the bottom line for layman people is the humidity and the wind — both the speed and direction — is of relevance to us. Also the recent amount of rainfall,” Rieth said.

You’ll see this danger level posted on signs located near the side of roads near the Pinelands — right next to a giant cutout of Smokey Bear.

Rieth says New Jersey averages about 1,500 forest fires a year, but not all are major. Major fires, which are considered fires to be 100 acres wide or greater, occur anywhere from one to 12 times a year.

However, the frequency of forest fires can be difficult to predict because while the weather certainly plays a role, so does human behavior.

“It depends on weather and people,” Rieth said.

What he means is the frequency also depends upon whenever somebody improperly disposes of their cigarette butts or fireplace ashes, or does something else that could potentially start a forest fire. Sometimes, forest fires can start even by telephone poles being knocked over in car crashes, which can result in the exposure of a live wire.

Rieth said after it rains, Wharton State Forest has a tendency to dry out fairly quickly because of the sand-based soil. This isn’t usually the case for most local forests, as most other New Jersey forests have clay-based soils, which hold moisture longer.

For fire to exist, it needs three components: fuel, oxygen and heat — the fuel, in instances of forest fires, are the trees and shrubbery the fire eats up. The removal of any of these components will put out the fire.

As a result, Rieth says there are two ways to fight a forest fire: direct attack and indirect attack.

Direct attack is self-explanatory — officials will fight the fires with water from fire trucks, planes and helicopters. The water reduces the amount of heat in the fire, thus putting it out.

However, sometimes the fire is simply too big or moving too fast for this method to be effective. When this is the case, fire wardens will opt to use indirect attack, which is basically fighting fire with fire.

The more technical term is to “set backfires,” which basically means to set fires ahead of the fire, removing the fuel that would have otherwise kept the forest fire growing. When the two fires meet, they will effectively put each other out.

Direct attack with water removes the necessary heat component of a fire, while setting backfires removes the necessary fuel component of a fire.

But the key to keeping our forests safe? Preventing forest fires in the first place.

Rieth notes all nearby residents should practice “general fire safety rules” such as using ashtrays, spark arrestors for ATVs and chain saws, and not dumping ashes out into the woods without putting them into a metal can.

Additionally, it’s important for residents to know they need a permit for campfires, and that burning leaves or trash is illegal.