NJ forest fire burns at least 80 acres
HARDWICK, N.J. – After New Jersey’s state Forest Fire Service mounted a full-scale attack on a forest fire burning on the western side of Mount Tammany, flames are mostly contained, according to New Jersey fire officials.
The fire, which state officials said was about 80% contained Monday, had burned about 80 acres. The fire ignited Sunday afternoon on the a steep area of New Jersey’s Worthington State Forest and the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area on the New Jersey-Pennsylvania border.
When asked for his assessment of how long before the fire was completely under control, Chris Franek, assistant division forest fire warden said Monday, “We’ll likely be here through the end of the week. We’re hoping for rain.”
The National Weather Service forecast calls for rain for Tuesday through Wednesday night. To date for February, precipitation in northwestern New Jersey is about half the average of about 2.5 inches.
Franek said about 40 to 50 people from the state Forest Fire Service’s Northern Division worked in shifts to contain the fire on Monday. They were being assisted by employees of the NPS as well as from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The two groups often train together.
Also assisting with traffic on busy Interstate 80, which snakes through the Water Gap, were crews from the New Jersey Department of Transportation who were closing off stateowned parking lots for the popular Dunnfield Creek and Appalachian National Scenic Trail, another NPS unit, which run up the side of the mountain.
The fire was reported to officials about 2:30 p.m. Sunday afternoon, when many hikers were on the mountain – some of whom took pictures as they were told to get down off the mountain.
“I didn’t get the sense of danger,” said Knowlton Mayor Adele Starrs, who was hiking on the Red Dot trail Sunday afternoon with her three daughters, ranging in age from 4 to teenager.
“It was a beautiful day and the trails were really populated,” she said. As they were coming down the mountain about 4 p.m., she said “the smell of smoke was very strong.
“Then we saw the firefighters in their yellow coats using spades to put out the fire,” she continued. “They also had blowers getting the leaves away.”
She said about two dozen firefighters were there at that time who “seemed on top of the situation and had it under control.”
Starrs also noted that lots of people were smoking as they hiked.
Franek said that the cause of the fire “is under investigation.”
There are signs in both the state forest and the national park prohibiting “open fires of any kind.”