Wharton State Forest fire 95% contained, suspected cause illegal campfire, DEP says
HAMMONTON – The Wharton State Forest fire is now 95% contained as officials investigate an illegal campfire that is suspected to be the cause, New Jersey Forest Fire Service Chief Greg McLaughlin said Tuesday.
The wildfire erupted Sunday afternoon and burned 15,000 acres at its peak in portions of Wharton State Forest in Hammonton, Washington, Shamong and Mullica townships across Burlington, Gloucester and Atlantic counties.
About 75 firefighters are still at the scene. Crews are expected to take another few days to completely contain it, McLaughlin said.
“We should all be proud of the incredible people of the New Jersey Forest Fire Service who have worked tirelessly to contain the Mullica River wildfire and who put their own lives and safety on the line every day to protect New Jersey residents, visitors, our property and infrastructure, and our natural resources from increasing wildfire risks,” said Shawn M. LaTourette, commissioner of the Department of Environmental Protection.
Map:See where the Wharton State Forest fire is burning with our fire map
As of Tuesday, 18 structures were still at risk, according to state officials.
An illegal campfire in a remote area of the forest is under investigation and expected to be the cause of the blaze, officials said.
The fire is considered “illegal” because it was started in an area of the park that is not a designated camping site, according to McLaughlin.
About 50 park visitors were evacuated from the Paradise Lake and state campgrounds Sunday, officials said.
No injuries were reported in the wildfire.
At the time that it erupted on Sunday, most of the weekend park visitors had already started leaving, according to DEP officials.
LaTourette released a statement warning park visitors about the dangers of manmade fires.
“Most wildfire is human-caused,” he said. “Please, please practice fire safety. Report them when you see them, don’t start them where they’re not expressly allowed and put them out wherever you may hike, camp or recreate. And when you think they’re out, check three times.”
New Jersey's Pinelands are particularly fire prone, due to the region's sandy, quick-drying soil and plant species that are both resilient to fire and dependent on flames, said Jason Grabosky, a professor of forestry and tree biology at Rutgers University.
"In that part of New Jersey, fire from lightning — as our most natural fire producer — is a known and historic disturbance in that area," he said. "So the species that are there are adapted to it."
The area's pitch pines often survive forest fires and rely on the flames to reproduce. Their cones open in the presence of heat and then seed the fertile, freshly burned soil, Grabosky said.
"There are some aspects of smoke that will influence germination of some species of plants. There's specialized organisms for fire cycle systems," Grabosky said.
The forest thinning that results from fire can help reduce population pressure among trees, thereby leading to healthier, stronger trees as a result, he said.
Michael Gallagher of the U.S. Forest Service, who studies the impacts of prescribed burning in the New Jersey Pinelands, said researchers will be able to learn from this fire, because it has reburned areas that were consumed in wildfires of the not-too-distant past.
"We can learn if places that burned more recently had less severe impacts than places that had been fired-excluded for a while," he said. "We can also learn how previous fire scars could be useful in managing future fires."
The research will help guide future prescribed burns, which are carefully set fires that are controlled by firefighters and aim to protect neighborhoods, roads and infrastructure from massive, difficult to control wildfires.
But even when the wildfires reach the scale of the Wharton State Forest blaze, the Pinelands will quickly regenerate, Gallagher said.
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"Most of the plants are just top killed by fire and rapidly start sprouting after fire," he said. Other plants… have seeding strategies and so they rapidly seed in or have seeds already waiting in the soil to germinate after a fire."
This feeds the cycle and frequency of wildfire in the Pinelands, making collaboration between the state Forest Fire Service and local fire departments across the region integral to public safety.
Barnegat Volunteer Fire Company Chief Dan Rooney said a majority of his volunteers are cross trained in both wildland and structure firefighting. Fire companies across Ocean County train annually with the Forest Fire Service, due to the area's increased risk, he said.
Barnegat also participates in New Jersey's Firewise Community program, which helps homeowners learn how to protect their property through actions like eliminating leaves and fuels that could ignite and thinning trees and shrubs around structures.
The fire chief said volunteer fire departments such as his could always use more helping hands.
"It’s neighbors helping neighbors," Rooney said. "There's nobody better to protect your own communities than the people in your community."
Annually, about 1,500 wildfires damage or destroy 7,000 acres of forest in New Jersey each year, according to the Department of Environmental Protection.
Currently, the department lists Ocean, Burlington and Monmouth counties, as well as portions of Mercer and Middlesex counties, at "high" risk of wildfire.
Near Wharton State Forest, Batsto Village, Atsion Recreation Area and nearby hiking and mountain bike trails remain closed to visitors. The Mullica River and Lower Forge campgrounds are also closed. Kayak and canoe launching along the Mullica River is closed from the Atsion Recreation Area to Batsto Village. Pinelands Adventures suspended kayak and canoe trips.
Nicolas Fernandes is the early morning breaking news reporter. A lifelong New Jersey resident, he has previously worked as a features writer and sports reporter. Contact him at 732-540-4401 or nfernandes@gannettnj.com