Fire near Speedwell...

wolfspider05

wolfspider05

Explorer
Nov 12, 2004
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Riverside Nj
I was driving down 563 friday morning and as soon as I got around the area where Speedwell is, it was on fire. It was a pretty big area that was burning, the strange thing was, I didn't see anyone around. I am guessing that it was a controlled burn??
 
Yes, there are quite a few controlled fires going on now. This occurs every year around this time. Batsto also had a controll fire a few days ago. You will also see them on Rt 206 in the Paradise Lake area. I hate to see the beautiful indian grass burn in the Batsto area, but I understand the neccessity of it all. I am just happy to see it always grow back.
 
I saw the aftermath of the burn at speedwell and it definitely looked like a controlled burn. I've come across controlled burns before with no one around. I don't know how they do it, but seems that they really know what they're doing. If you look at the speedwell burn, the ground debries are gone and the trees are barely touched.

Jeff
 
Interesting that this has been brought up. There are controlled burns going on all over the place. I have seen 2 and heard of a few more just this week already.
 
Yeah I would of loved to have my camera with me, I have a habit of not taking it with me when I leave. That area of 563 was just covered in thick white smoke. They must be doing them all over the state then. I know this is a newbie question but what's the purpose of them?
 
The purpose of the controlled burn is two fold:
1)It reduces the ground debrie that can feed a wild fire, there by reducing the likely hood of wildfires.
2)Pitch pine is extremely tolerant of fire and will regrow after a burn faster than oak and other decidious trees. In fact, there is a variety of pitch pine where the pine cones only open when subjected to intense heat (like fire). This an adaptation for survival resulting from thousands of years of wild fires in the area. Many oak dominated areas of the barrens are the result of no fires (controlled or wild) for a very long time.

So the controlled burn reduces wild fire risks to life and property and at the same time maintains the pine dominant forests that would have existed anyway if humans didn't intervene in fighting wild fires. It is a win win situation, so long as the forest fire service can keep up with such a large area.

Jeff
 
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