A raging forest fire, started by what authorities suspect was an errant flare from a military aircraft, burned more than 12,000 acres of Pine Barrens, forced more than 1,000 southern Ocean County residents from their homes Tuesday night, and closed parts of several highways including the Garden State Parkway.
That flare, released by a plane flying over the Warren Grove Gunnery Range, ignited a blaze that, fed by dry weather and whipped by a 30-mph southwest wind, burned close to 20 square miles of forest land and damaged about 50 homes in Barnegat's Brighton at Barnegat, an age-restricted development of prefabricated, modular homes in perhaps Barnegat's most rural neighborhood.
By 10 p.m., the fire had consumed about 19 square miles, according to Bert Plante, a division fire warden with the New Jersey Forest Fire Service.
"As of 10 p.m., we have 15 percent of the fire contained," Plante said. "We're hoping that goes up rapidly overnight. We're not going to get a very good damage estimate until daylight hours. It's a crapshoot if we can keep damage under 15,000 acres. The fire is still very active because of the wind."
Gabliks said hundreds of state forest fire workers were called in, along with 150 pieces of equipment with crews from fire companies in Ocean, Monmouth, Atlantic, Burlington and Camden counties.
"It was a usual mission, when aircraft roll in to drop practice bombs and strafe targets on the range," Garcia explained.
As part of the simulated combat, pilots "pop off" flares from ejector tubes in the tails of the aircraft. The extremely hot flares are designed as decoys to attract enemy heat-seeking missiles that otherwise would home in on the aircraft engine exhaust, he said.
The range control crew dispatched its own firefighting equipment when spotters in the range tower detected the blaze, but it got out of control in winds gusting to 27 knots, he said.
Garcia acknowledged the fire could pose problems for the Air Guard, which has faced local community complaints about the range over the years. In fall 2004, another F-16 pilot accidentally discharged his jet's 20 mm gun during a night approach to the range target. Several non-explosive bullets pelted a school on the other side of the parkway in Little Egg Harbor as janitors worked inside. No one was injured then.
This is my home town. This kinda thing actually happens often.
The wail of sirens seemed to come from all directions while planes and helicopters circled constantly overhead, but many residents in Ocean Acres seemed unfazed by the commotion unfolding before them.
Susan and Rick Campanile, who have lived on Mermaid Drive for 30 years, said the frequency of forest fires, especially those in Warren Grove, have almost numbed them to the possibilities of what could happen.
"It always makes you nervous, but you can't do anything," Susan Campanile said.
One year they entertained guests at a cookout as cinders fell from the sky while a fire burned along Route 72. Other times the threat grew so real they hosed down their home as a precaution.
Yesterday, though, the Campaniles merely joined the rest of their neighbors out in the street to watch the smoke plume grow.
