Summer heats up forest fire awareness

Summer temperatures lend themselves to beach days and barbecues but also something more dangerous — forest fires.

“High winds are most conducive to forest fires. The sun shines this time of the year directly down on the leaves and needle litter,” section forest fire warden Tom Gerber said. “Everything hasn’t leafed out yet and that dries out.”

According to Gerber, if the area receives an inch of rain, conditions could still be high the next day due to the sun drying the area and high winds.

“If we have multiple days of decent drying, the spotty showers can make it moderate, but it could be high fire danger by the afternoon,” said forest fire observer Ben Brick, who watches the forested areas of Marlton, Medford, Shamong and Tabernacle at his station at the tower in Medford Lakes off Stokes Road.

According to Gerber, the area has been deemed a Wildland Urban Interface, due to residents integrated in a densely wooded area.

“We’re the eyes in the sky for everyone on the ground,” Brick said.

The Medford Lakes tower was constructed in 1948 after World War II and stands 141 feet tall, according to Gerber.

Gerber oversees Division B with towers at Apple Pie Hill in Tabernacle, three stations in Batsto, the Cedar Bridge Station, Jamesburg, Lakewood, Lebanon and Medford.

“A lot of people aren’t home in these wooded communities, and Ben is standing up here looking for smoke,” Gerber said.

According to Brick, the towers stay in constant contact, especially when a forest fire is burning.

When Brick identifies smoke, he looks into the sight glass to pinpoint its approximate location on a round map of the area with a string, providing him with a coordinate.

“Hopefully, another tower can see the smoke, and they’ll get their degree, and we’ll line it up to pinpoint where it is,” Brick said.

After receiving the sight locations by radio from two of the nearest towers, Brick uses azimuth circles, a navigational tool with strings located in the center of the circle along a map, to triangulate where the fire is located.

According to Gerber, the system is accurate up to a few yards.

“There are newer systems that probably wouldn’t work as well. They’re usually infrared or digital cameras that probably wouldn’t be as good as if the person was doing it for you,” Gerber said. “It’s an old tried and true system.”

Once the fire is called in, three trucks that can hold up to 500 gallons of water each, equipment for the firefighters and a bulldozer are dispatched to the scene.

According to Gerber, the state protects 3.1 million acres, 122,880 of which make up Wharton State Forest.

Forest fire observers determine the level of forest fire risk each day with the potential to change as the day progresses.

Brick checks the weather two times a day, taking into consideration the level of humidity and wind. The information determines if the day is low, moderate, high, very high or extreme wildfire danger levels.

According to Gerber, fires can start for a number of reasons, including hot carbon from a brake shoe, burning leaves in the backyard, people intentionally setting fires, cigarettes and kids playing with matches.

“We’ve weeded people setting fires intentionally out over the years, but we still have them,” Gerber said.

Backyard fires can cause forest fires and are “a big deal now.” They weren’t as “in style” 15 years ago, Gerber said.

Residents setting backyard fires in pits or chimineas are required to have a permit from the DEP, according to Gerber.

“They don’t realize that, just because it’s not on the ground, it’s still dangerous,” Gerber said.