Berkely Crossroads Fire Notes

[bobpbx]

This fire started near the intersection of 530 and Dover Road.

It was a hot fire. Pretty much all-consuming. The following shows a firebreak that was created either during the fire, or shortly before the fire. Note that the land on either side is completely wasted. Whoever made the cut turned around after about a half mile and turned back. I suggest that we can come to some conclusion about this "firebreak".

 

[bobpbx]

Fire Art.

 

[ecampbell]

Looks like the Carranza controlled burn!

 

[1Jerseydevil]

Bob
I'm probably a bit dense, what do you mean with your comment?
If there is a swamp a plow line will stop there as the swamp is a natural fire break, although I've seen a hot wind swept fire cut right through, Warren Grove is an example.
A plow line is cut during a fire to encircle the main fire and to start back fires. With the high winds it's quite possible the back fire jumped the plow line. I see in the distance green tree crowns, was the fire stopped at that point, or is there another plow line? Does this plow line run roughly N/S, are there other plow lines?

 

[46er]

I was thru there today, they did a great job on the fire. My only complaint was the local FD donation blockade at Dover & Pinewald/Keswick. They made a heavily used, dangerous intersection more so by blocking the turning lanes onto Dover, making the thru lanes very narrow causing folks to stop on a green light if they wanted to donate. Quite a few one finger salutes were given, mine among them. They should stick to fires and leave traffic control to the police.

 

[bobpbx]

Bob
I'm probably a bit dense, what do you mean with your comment?
If there is a swamp a plow line will stop there as the swamp is a natural fire break, although I've seen a hot wind swept fire cut right through, Warren Grove is an example.
A plow line is cut during a fire to encircle the main fire and to start back fires. With the high winds it's quite possible the back fire jumped the plow line. I see in the distance green tree crowns, was the fire stopped at that point, or is there another plow line? Does this plow line run roughly N/S, are there other plow lines?

This line they dug runs roughly northwest to southeast. Your questions are all valid, and I don't know all the answers, but it is clear to me that on that particular day, with those strong winds, running a vehicle through the woods is suicide and non-productive. If the fire started close to Double Trouble Road, then why go in a third of a mile and try to encircle it when they should know that a) there is a swamp and lakes immediately to the east, and b) the winds were too high to stop it, especially since it was crowning. What you see in the distance is slightly wetter ground where the land dips to a cripple. I think the fire was running more southeast at that point, which kept the swamp from burning too. They apparently 'did' back off when they realized that they were chasing something that was likely to burn itself out despite their efforts. What I show below is what I think is the fire line (I did not have my GPS with me).

 

[bobpbx]

PS, guess what this is:

 

[1Jerseydevil]

Judging from your picture, that plow line was most likely made this past winter after January. Yes I took note of the dozer tread you pictured. Surprisingly dozer treads last for a year in certain areas, yes even in the sugar sand pictured. Example, the winter of 12 /13 the FFS renewed the plow lines between Pasadena rd and Webbs Mill rd across 539 from Bamber. They ran out of time to burn. For an entire year and even to an extent now, those plow lines look freshly made and you can see the dozer tread marks. In fact if you ride down the Lacey Line sand rd it feels like a washboard rd when it's really the dozer tracks, over a year latter.

The info I was told, they're only allowed to make planned and Pinelands approved plow lines in the winter months. Encircling a raging wildfire is different.
If there are more than one N / S plow lines, that area was scheduled for a controlled burn, but time ran out. I've been told their 5 years behind on what is scheduled to be burned.

Interesting find. Is that some sort of steel "tent"? Wonder if that is where the fire started?
Is it close to the plow line?

I travel Pinewald/Keswick rd past the municipal complex and under the power lines. For a while now I've noticed increased activity with cars parked at the North entrance of the power lines. Could it possibly be PB members exploring the area or something else going on? Generally 2 to 4 cars, mainly on weekends.

 

[46er]

Word is this fire was arson.

 

[PINEY WARDEN]

Word is this fire was arson.

http://www.app.com/article/20140429/NJNEWS14/304290032/Berkeley-Beachwood-fire

 

[bobpbx]

http://www.app.com/article/20140429/NJNEWS14/304290032/Berkeley-Beachwood-fire

I did see a police crime tape, but it was broken already when I got there.

JD: It could have been a recent plow line made in preparations (what you say does make sense), but still, it is ugly and they crossed a cripple and dug down to the water table.

The photo is of a pool liner made into a hunting blind or a fort. It was about 30 feet from the plow line.

Regarding the parked cars, I'm not sure who that is. Maybe they walk in to fish?

PS: this does give me an opportunity to study which plants come back first.

 

[bobpbx]

I went back through the newspaper reports online to get the date (24 April, 2014) of the crossroads fire. So it has now been just over 5 weeks since that hot burn. I went out yesterday to see how the recovery went. Interesting. I thought you'd like to see what's going on.

The first thing back is Bracken Fern (Pteridium aquilinum). I found them nearly waist high in some spots, so they are taking advantage of the available light. Being first up is to be expected, as they are a pioneer species.

The young oak shoots at the base of burned main plants are also emerging quickly.

And of course the various Ericaceae shrubs (huckleberry, blueberry, etc.) are sprouting throughout the forest. I cannot tell which ones these will be just yet.

Here is something unique. Most of the pines I saw standing are not sending out shoots yet. Maybe they really are dead, as this can happen after a really hot fire. But I found one pine that had been knocked over (when making the aforementioned plow line) with very vibrant shoots. I don't think this pine saw as much heat, lying as it did partially in the plow line.

Here is a clearing that was a clearing before the fire, and by all accounts today will remain so. This is one of the pine barren mysteries...many people ponder over this phenomenon. Still, the grasses that did inhabit this clearing are making an appearance, like this Dicanthelium species.

Here, also in the clearing, is (my best guess) pine barren sandwort, sending up flowers! This prostrate plant can be up to 4 decimeters or more wide, but this remnant scrap is only about 9 cm wide.

And finally, before we get to the damp spot, I found a species that usually thrives after fire; Calamovilfa brevipilis; Pine Barren Reed grass. It is sending up new shoots (maybe Oji can tell me if I'm correct, I think he's seen the plant more than me).

 

[bobpbx]

As I said in an earlier post, the plow dug right through a cripple. This is a tragedy. Why on heaven's earth would we want to change the formation of a cripple forever--and for what? A cripple is a sign of our geological past--it tells us where the water flow is underneath the ground, and it's not too hard to envision the sight of them when the land was bare, even before the first seed blew in and took root. Gentle dips in the surface of the land, welcoming the runoff from rainfall.

I was surprised that the dug out portion of the cripple did not have much sign of life yet. But maybe I should not be--after all, when a plow comes along and scours the earth like a rooting hog, it rips up all the life underground for a foot deep. And this massacre goes on every year, for probably miles of Pine Barren landscape. Plant rhizomes and stolons, entire roots, and any underground mammals are ripped up and cast aside with no thought.

Here is what the cripple looks like today where the plow went through it.

But, still, there is life. Here is what I think are pine seedlings. I doubt they will last due to the water table, but here they are.

Here is Smilax (greenbrier). Now this, may last. It joins Tupperware, cockroaches , and ticks as most likely to survive a nuclear blast.

[

And as I turned to leave, very surprisingly, I heard 3 tree frogs quonking to each other, still trying to get together. That was pretty shocking considering the devastation. This last photo is looking "up" the cripple towards the upland. The tree frog was less than 30 feet away, but I could not locate him. Life continues on.

 

[Teegate]

We have to find a way to get rid of greenbrier.

 

[Boyd]

Is greenbrier the thorny vine that resembles barbed wire? There's a lot on my property. When I moved here 8 years ago and started clearing some small trails, I felt the way you do Guy and chopped it up when it was in the way. But over the years, I have come to appreciate it. I have a large area of dense thicket where it thrives and find it quite beautiful.

It isn't as tough as you might think. Have let many of my old trails grow over again, but the vines are very slow to return, if at all. The problem is deer. They love to eat the young shoots and new vines have a very hard time getting started. When food gets scarce, they will even eat the mature vines. This makes me think that the dense areas are very old. Today, I almost never cut it when it encroaches on my trails. I just weave it back into itself to guide it away.

 

[1Jerseydevil]

Thanks for the pictures. Amazing how the forest has adapted. While the charred trees may look unsightly to us, your pictures show fire is a natural and necessary cycle, even if the fire is arson. New life is springing forth and the forest is going through it's cycle and not to long will be at it's over grown thick mature state previous to the fire. I seen the same after the Warren Grove scorching 2 weeks after. Amazing with the ferns, you don't normally see them, but as you show they're there waiting for their time. I've often wondered why you come across barren patches myself. I'm sure there's a reason, anybody know? Wish I knew you were going back, I'd like to have taken a walk with you.

I know that plow line bothers you. The only ones that can answer why it's there is the FF service. Isn't the FF service at Double Trouble? Maybe stop in and ask. It is not the usual N/S direction. Maybe it was put in during the fire for a back fire attempt that failed?
In a few years there will be growth in it that will thrive. The Pines were raped over pretty well during the 17 & 18 hundreds, much more so than happens today, and you know what, the Pines, plants, animals, reptiles and ticks are doing just fine.

 

[manumuskin]

Boyd
Those soft tendrils at the ends of Greenbriar vines this time of year are edible.I eat them every spring.The only thing I can compare them to might be asparagus but really they have their own taste.Big black anys love them too and I usually have to brush a few off before I eat the tendril.They'll be too hard to eat shortly.When I was a kid and much smaller and more nimble I used to love to crawl down animal trails into the dense middle of a thicket where you can often find holes big enough for a kid to set up and I would have my own little fort where no one else could or would follow.I used to do the same in overgrown fields of rose bushes but they are much meaner then greenbriar and I had to be much more careful.many times I found my self nose to nose with a rabbit who was no doubt wonderin How I got my little human behind back in there.Much to uhh? Robust! for that now.

 

[Gibby]

I have yet to put it together, but I have always wanted to do a time-lapse of the recovery after a good burn. The visual would be terrific to see the green breaking through the blackened forest. I should have set up at Carranza...