Fire near Lakewood, NJ. Screenshot from Jersey Shore Fire Response video.
The Airport Fire near Lakewood, New Jersey burned two office buildings Sunday afternoon as strong winds helped spread a vegetation fire quickly across 170 acres about 12 miles north of Toms River.
The New Jersey Forest Fire Service (NFFS) said a firefighter is in critical condition at a nearby hospital. Channel 10 in Philadelphia reported the individual suffered a cardiac incident.
According to the NJFFS, the fire came close to homes, but none were “substantially damaged though some ancillary structures such as sheds were impacted.”
Firefighters unload a tractor plow at a fire near Lakewood, NJ. Screenshot from Jersey Shore Fire Response video.
The cause of the fire has not been released, but an escaped prescribed fire has been ruled out, in spite of inaccurate reports online indicating otherwise according to the NJFFS.
The fire was reported at about 1:30 p.m. near Lakewood Airport and was pushed by strong winds across the Garden State Parkway which had to be closed.
Fire near Lakewood, NJ. Screenshot from Jersey Shore Fire Response video
Sunday afternoon a weather station west of the fire recorded 10 mph winds out of the west gusting at 20 to 35 mph while the relative humidity dropped to 16 percent. A Red Flag Warning is in effect for the area until 5 p.m. Monday for 10 to 20 mph hour northwest winds with relative humidity in the teens.
About 100 residents were evacuated to a nearby elementary school but were allowed to return at 7 p.m.
At least one water dropping helicopter, a single engine air tanker, and a tractor plow can be seen in the video below.
Thanks and a tip of the hat go out to Tom, Jim, and Rick.
“Potential risks to the park itself and to the health and safety of employees and visitors associated with the fireworks demonstration continue to be a concern and are still being evaluated as a result of the 2020 event,” said the National Park Service.
The sculpture at Mount Rushmore is at the icon in this satellite photo.
The National Park Service has denied a request from the State of South Dakota to hold a July 4 fireworks display at Mount Rushmore this year.
Last year under pressure from South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem and former President Trump, fireworks were shot from the heads of the four presidents on the sculpture for the first time since 2009. In the interim they had been banned for having started 27 fires, left carcinogens in the water, and the trash dropped by the exploding shells onto the Monument and the forest can never be completely picked up. Fireworks were exploded over the sculpture and the Ponderosa pine forest 11 times between 1998 and 2009.
NPS Regional Director Herbert Frost wrote in a letter to the head of the state’s tourism department, first reported by The Hill Friday, that the NPS is “unable to grant a request to have fireworks at the Memorial.”
“Potential risks to the park itself and to the health and safety of employees and visitors associated with the fireworks demonstration continue to be a concern and are still being evaluated as a result of the 2020 event,” Frost wrote. “In addition, the park’s many tribal partners expressly oppose fireworks at the Memorial.”
“These factors, compiled with the COVID-19 pandemic, do not allow a safe and responsible fireworks display to be held at this site,” he added.
Frost noted that although progress is being made in fighting the pandemic, the situation is still “dynamic” and said it is “only prudent to make plans based on the best available science and public health guidance available today.”
In a joint statement, three members of Congress, Representative Dusty Johnson, Senator John Thune, and Senator Mike Rounds said,
Let’s be clear, this decision is political, not evidence-based. President Biden just said himself that Americans can safely gather by July 4 – what’s changed in a day? Last year millions watched the celebration in awe, and it’s a shame the administration is denying Americans that opportunity this year.
Because here’s the point, if we do all this, if we do our part, if we do this together, by July the 4th, there’s a good chance you, your families and friends will be able to get together in your backyard or your neighborhood and have a cookout and a barbecue and celebrate Independence Day. That doesn’t mean large events with lots of people together, but it does mean small groups will be able to get together.
According to Johns Hopkins University, of all the U.S. states, as of March 14, 2021 South Dakota has the third-highest number of positive COVID-19 cases per capita, and the sixth-lowest rate of testing per capita. The state has never implemented a mask mandate.
Four days before the fireworks celebration in 2020, a local wildfire update reported that multiple fires had affected nearly 16,000 acres in the Black Hills, near Mount Rushmore. But wildfire experts’ objections to the 2020 celebration went unheeded.
“Burning debris, the burning embers and unexploded shells fall into a ponderosa pine forest and ponderosa pine is extremely flammable,” Bill Gabbert, former fire management officer for Mount Rushmore, told the Argus Leader last year. “Shooting fireworks over a ponderosa pine forest, or any flammable vegetation, is ill advised and should not be done. Period.”
In a break from what had been the standard practice for decades, when the Mine Draw Fire broke out six miles from Mount Rushmore just days before the fireworks were exploded in 2020, Governor Kristi Noem’s office took control of all official information about the fire, shutting down the fire professionals who had always provided information to the public and the media as part of their regular jobs.
Mine Draw Fire, June 24, 2020. Photo by Custer State Park.
Stacked bar graph showing the number of new human- and lightning-caused fire occurrences (≥2 ha) for each day of the year from 1959 to 2018. Figure adapted from Coogan et al. 2020. (From “Fifty years of wildland fire science in Canada”)
A group of nine land managers and researchers in Canada have put together a compendium highlighting the country’s accomplishments in wildland fire science over the last 50 years. Information in the 296 pages plus more than 300 references covers five key developments and contributions:
The creation of the Canadian Forest Fire Danger Rating System;
The relationships between wildland fire and weather, climate, and climate change;
Fire ecology;
Operational decision support; and,
Wildland fire management.
There is also a case study about the evolution of wildland fire management in Banff National Park.
Annual area burned by wildfire and prescribed fire in Banff National Park from 1910 to 2018. Note the long period of fire exclusion from the 1940s until the early 1980s. (From “Fifty years of wildland fire science in Canada”)
The paper discusses additional research needs, including:
Further evaluation of fire severity measurements and effects;
Efficacy of fuel management treatments; Climate change effects and mitigation;
Further refinement of models pertaining to fire risk analysis, fire behaviour, and fire weather; and,
Integration of forest management and ecological restoration with wildland fire risk reduction.
Timeline of some key developments in Canadian wildland fire science by decade from the 1970s to the 2010s. FWI, Fire Weather Index System; FBP, Fire Behaviour Prediction System; NSERC, Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada. (From “Fifty years of wildland fire science in Canada”)
Authors of the referenced online document: Sean C.P. Coogan, Lori D. Daniels, Den Boychuk, Philip J. Burton, Mike D. Flannigan, Sylvie Gauthier, Victor Kafka, Jane S. Park, and B. Mike Wotton.
Chad Fisher, who has served as the National Park Service’s (NPS) wildland fire operations program leader since 2017, has been selected as the agency’s chief for the Branch of Wildland Fire. In this position he will lead the team responsible for operations, planning, budget, and science and ecology for the wildland fire management program.
Fisher began his career at Pocosin Lakes National Wildlife Refuge in 1990 after graduating from Haywood Community College with an associate degree in Fish and Wildlife Management. He spent the early ‘90s working at the refuge during the spring and fall fire seasons and the summer season on the Payette National Forest in Idaho. Chad was a member of the Asheville Interagency Hotshot Crew (IHC) in 1993 and the NPS’s Alpine IHC in 1994. He returned to school at University of Montana (UM) in 1995 ultimately earning a Bachelor of Science in Resource Conservation. He worked as a smokejumper in McCall, Idaho and a helitack crew leader for the interagency Lolo National Forest/Salish Kootenai Tribe while attending UM.
Chad worked on the Great Smoky Mountains prescribed fire crew (Wildland Fire Module) before receiving his first career seasonal appointment on the Lewis and Clark National Forest. He returned to Great Smoky Mountains National Park as the assistant module leader and module leader before moving to Boise as a training specialist for the NPS. In the mid 2000’s Chad was the national fire training specialist for the United States Fish and Wildlife Service then returned to the NPS as the wildland fire safety program manager. He received the 2013 Paul Gleason Lead by Example Award for his work with the Dutch Creek mitigations. In 2017 Chad officially became the program lead for NPS Wildland Fire Operations.
Chad is a member of the National Park Service Safety Leadership Council (SLC) and the National Multiagency Coordinating Group (NMAC). His wife Sarah works for the United States Forest Service and they are the proud parents of two sons. He credits his parents and strong mentors from his days at Pocosin Lakes and Alpine IHC with helping him establish a strong foundation early in his life and career. Chad enjoys spending time with his family, running, mountain biking, and sitting by the backyard firepit.
Chad will begin his new position on March 28, 2021.
Dennis M. Bender had been with Ponca Hills VFD in Nebraska for 50 years
Dennis M. Bender. Photo credit: Ponca Hills Volunteer Fire Department.
Firefighter/Paramedic Dennis M. Bender died March 10 as the result of a medical emergency while working in support of crews at a fire north of Omaha, Nebraska, said Ponca Hills Volunteer Fire Chief Joe Sacks. He was immediately taken to a hospital where he was pronounced deceased.
It was the department’s third wildland fire of the day.
Mr. Bender, Nebraska’s longest serving paramedic, lived in the Ponca Hills and was affiliated with the volunteer fire department for 50 years. He was among the first group of Certified Paramedics in the state.
He and his wife of 52 years, Patty, both died on March 10, one year apart. Patty died in 2020.
Our sincere condolences go out to Mr. Bender’s family, his fellow firefighters and paramedics, and his friends.
Strong winds and low humidities created difficult conditions for firefighters
Map of a wildfire southeast of Florence, Kansas detected by satellites at 3:35 p.m. CST March 10, 2021.
The passage of a cold front in Kansas on Wednesday with winds gusting at more than 40 mph and relative humidity in the teens created conditions that firefighters and ranchers dread — several large fires broke out. There are reports that a 7,000-acre blaze southeast of Florence led to evacuations and the destruction of homes.
Other large fires occurred northeast of Washington, southeast of Marysville, north of Morrill, east of Clay Center, and northwest of Concordia.
A vintage S-2 air tanker powered by a radial engine was activated to assist firefighters on the ground. Tanker 95 was formerly operated by the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection but is now privately owned and under contract to the Kansas Forest Service. It was used Monday, and Wednesday it dropped water on at least two fires, one in Cloud County and another near Jamestown.
An S-2 air tanker drops water on a fire near Jamestown, KS March 10, 2021. Photo by Belleville FD.
In anticipation of the fire threat caused by the extreme winds and low humidity additional engines were brought in from South Dakota, Wyoming, and Colorado. This mobilization was facilitated by provisions in the Great Plains Interstate Fire Compact. Blackhawk helicopters operated by the Kansas National Guard have also been assisting firefighters by dropping water.
