Forest fire at Lenape Farms WMA/Estell Manor?

Boyd

Boyd

Administrator
Staff member
Site Administrator
Jul 31, 2004
9,824
3,004
Ben's Branch, Stephen Creek
Was talking to a friend today and he asked "hey, was that forest fire near your house"? I was out of town at my Granddaughter's birthday party last weekend and when I got home that evening there were smouldering remains inside the fence at Lenape Farms. Also noticed they had plowed a new road around the perimeter.

Looked like a controlled burn, it had just started raining and I was thinking they picked a good day. But my friend says there was a story in the Atlantic City newspaper and fire companies from several towns were involved. He also said it was arson and they caught the guy.

Couldn't find anything with a quick Google search. This one was a little too close for comfort... All things considered I'm glad I was out of town. :)
 
smoke_jumper

smoke_jumper

Piney
Mar 5, 2012
1,606
1,164
Atco, NJ
I saw on Facebook that they were looking for a suspect who had a white pick up with a distinctive gray hood. I guess they caught him.
 
Boyd

Boyd

Administrator
Staff member
Site Administrator
Jul 31, 2004
9,824
3,004
Ben's Branch, Stephen Creek
Thanks, but that's not it, I found that on Google myself. This one was on Maple Ave on March 19th. Of course, my friend could have been confused, but the reason the story caught his eye was he recognized the street as being near my home and firefighters from his town (Galloway) were involved.
 
Boyd

Boyd

Administrator
Staff member
Site Administrator
Jul 31, 2004
9,824
3,004
Ben's Branch, Stephen Creek
Yep, that must be it, thanks. But now I'm still confused… that story is dated on the 26th. This morning I was driving down Maple Ave, which divides the Lenape WMA and the Maple Lake WMA. I noticed there was a small burned area (maybe only a hundred feet long) on the Maple Lake side of the road. I was thinking... "oops, the controlled burn got across the road".

So maybe the big fire in Lenape really was a controlled burn and the little fire happened a few days later? I didn't notice this little burned area until today, but just assumed it was there all along.
 
ecampbell

ecampbell

Piney
Jan 2, 2003
2,889
1,029
I taught that controlled burns were supposed to occur no later than early March, before the snakes come out of their dens.
 
Gibby

Gibby

Piney
Apr 4, 2011
1,644
442
Trenton
New Jersey's prescribed burning season is limited to the period between October 1 and March 31. Any species of concern start emerging towards the very end of the burn season.
 
Boyd

Boyd

Administrator
Staff member
Site Administrator
Jul 31, 2004
9,824
3,004
Ben's Branch, Stephen Creek
The ground never froze this winter, last year there was a hard freeze. Cycles of freeze/thaw really destroyed my driveway last year, turning portions into sugar sand. Nothing like that this year. Does that matter? Regardless, I have seen snakes twice in the woods on my property over the past month, and a corner of my property is only a few hundred feet from the Lenape Farms WMA where they burned a week ago.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top