North Jersey raging wildfire may quickly destroy 5,000 acres

🔥 Gusty winds, low humidity, dry brush contribute to firefighter challenges

🔥A Red Flag Warning is in effect near Greenwood Lake

WEST MILFORD — A wildfire raging on the New Jersey and New York border will quickly burn up to 5,000 acres of forest, officials predicted.

The Jennings Creek Wildfire ignited Saturday, one of several from North to South Jersey last week that led to a local state of emergency and smoky air conditions.

This fire is now 20% contained after burning 3,500 acres as of 10:30 a.m. Tuesday.

The terrain in this sparsely populated part of North Jersey means grueling conditions for firefighters, who will be working in freezing temperatures overnight.

Chris Franek, an assistant division fire warden with the New Jersey Forest Fire Service, described this as "wilderness" with no hiking trails or roads into the woods where crews need to be.

"With limited water access, we are requiring helicopters and miles of fire hose coming in again being brought in by people hiking with 80 to 90 pounds of gear on their back," he said.

"It's hard to get equipment in there because some areas are too steep for bulldozers to go to, so it is somebody on the ground digging a fire line choking on smoke and dust trying to suppress this fire with manual labor," Franek said.

Fueling the fire are extremely dry conditions and 10 to 20 mph winds with gusts of 30-40 mph.

"Smokey Bear's holy trinity of dry air, dry brush, and gusty winds is in full effect on Tuesday with a Red Flag Warning in effect," New Jersey 101.5 Chief Meteorologist Dan Zarrow said.

NJ Forest Fire Service spokeswoman Caryn Shinske said that as forest fuels dry out following Sunday night’s rain, the fire is expected to grow to at least 5,000 acres.

Shinske said the goal on Tuesday is to hold the eastern containment line as winds blow out from the northwest.

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Challenges faced by fire crews

The dry ground under leaves and vegetation also poses a challenge.

“Beneath the surface leaf litter that falls off the trees, that stuff is bone dry,” Bryan Gallagher, a forest ranger with the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, said at a media briefing Monday. “So right now you get a little bit of rain that puts that surface fire out. But if it’s in the duff it’s going to stay there. It’s going to smolder like a cigar until it gets dry enough and then that fire can pop up again.”

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