By Victoria Hurley-Schubert, Staff Writer
Firefighters had a busy weekend fighting several brush fires, and a couple of Princeton residents had a scary end to a weekend hike.
Brush fires erupted in Princeton and West Windsor on Saturday and Sunday. And East Windsor also had a two-alarm structure fire on Saturday.
Cindy Williams and Stephen Schenthal, who live in Princeton Borough, were hiking in the woods of Mountain Lakes Preserve, enjoying the beautiful, warm weather.
”We were walking along the paths and we did smell smoke and I thought someone was barbecuing and he thought someone was burning leaves,” she said. “We smelled it and didn’t see any smoke at that time, so we continued with our hike. We then saw smoke and flames burning along the ridge and at that point we had to figure out how to get out of there. Normally you would go back the way you came, but we couldn’t do that. We’d be walking into the fire.”
As they tried to make their way away from the flames, Ms. Williams saw an ambulance through the trees in a clearing in the distance and headed toward the emergency personnel.
”It was kind of freaky. I’ve never been in a fire before. Who was thinking there would actually be a fire when you are so close to Princeton,” she said. “It never dawned on me. We learned a lesson, the next time we smell smoke we are going to call.”
Three and a half acres burned near Coventry Circle in the Mountain Lakes Preserve late Saturday afternoon. The cause of the fire is under investigation by the Princeton Township Police and Mercer County Prosecutor’s office.
”It was way back in the woods,” said Dan Tomalin, chief of the Princeton Fire Department. “It took us a long time to find it.”
The fire, which took two and a half hours to extinguish, was out as of Saturday night.
”When we were done putting it out, the forestry service put a blanket of foam around it, just in case anything was still smoldering,’ said Chief Tomalin. “They also dug away the outside, the farthest part of where the fire was so there is just dirt between the brush and where the fire was so there is nothing left to burn around the whole perimeter of the area.”
With the first emergency call coming in from the area 218 Cherry Hill Road, getting to the fire location was difficult for emergency personnel.
”We couldn’t access from there so we had to go in though the Great Road and Coventry Farm development,” said Chief Tomalin. “A large area of the woods was on fire so we had to call in mutual aid brush trucks and mutual aid for manpower.”
The park was evacuated as firefighters worked to put the blaze out.
”I’m sure the first crew out there was nervous because there is no water out there,” said the chief. “Princeton doesn’t have a brush truck, we had to wait for apparatus to get back there.”
Approximately 40 firefighters worked to put the blaze out and had it under control in an hour and not spreading, said Chief Tomalin.
Two brush trucks from New Jersey Forestry Service assisted brush trucks fromHopewell, Lawrence, West Windsor, Princeton Junction and Blawenburg.
An engine from Morriseville, Pa., and Lawrence Road, Prospect Heights in Ewing and a tanker from Hopewell and an engine from Blawenburg also assisted.
No homes were threatened and no injuries were reported.
About the same time as the brush fire was happening in Princeton, there was a two alarm structure fire East Windsor, which damaged an office building on Route 571, and impacted mutual aid. No further details on the blaze, which is under investigation, were available by deadline.
On Sunday, firefighters fought a brush fire behind Windsor Ponds along the Amtrak train tracks in West Windsor.
The April 15 fire burned four acres of oak forest in the Quakerbridge and Clarksville Roads area where multiple fire companies and many firefighters fought the blaze. The cause is under investigation, according to fire officials.
The whole area is still under red flag fire warnings, which mean the fire danger is very high and brush fires start very quickly and can get out of hand very quickly, said Chief Tomalin.
Two brush fires also burned in Cranbury-Monroe area yesterday and last week. A mulch fire was put out at Cedar Brook on April 15 by the Cranbury Fire Department and a larger brush fire took place on April 11 in the eastern section Monroe Township.
”This year conditions are really ripe,” said Larry Ragonese, press director at the Department of Environmental Protection, which oversees the New Jersey Forest Fire Service. “The forecast calls for dry and low humidity.”
Fire danger is exacerbated by the fact that the forest canopy has not leafed out, allowing the sun and wind to dry the forest floor. Lack of foliage gives fire easy access to old, fallen and dried leaves on the ground.
”You don’t have the buffer of healthy leaves,” said Mr. Ragonese. “Anyone who causes a spark, throws a cigarette, it’s like throwing it into a bale of hay.”
There have been about 500 wildfires in New Jersey this year, with the majority taking place in the past six weeks.
Fires are Mother Natures way of spring cleaning, getting rid of excessive brush, dead trees and brush and old leaves.
”Forest fires are a natural occurrence, there are some seeds that only reproduce when fires occur,” said Mr. Ragonese. “Nature has a way of protecting itself, it’s a natural balance.”
”Natural is one thing, but three fires last week were considered suspicious and we are investigating,” he added.
