Massive NJ Wildfire Sparked by F-16
NY Times:
Quote:
Thousands Flee New Jersey Wildfire Ignited by Flare From F-16
By ALAN FEUER and RICHARD G. JONES
Published: May 16, 2007
A flare dropped by an F-16 fighter jet at a bombing range in southern New Jersey ignited a wildfire yesterday that burned thousands of acres of brush and pine forest, closed highways, forced thousands of residents to flee and damaged some homes, state officials said.
By late last night, about 12,000 acres along the border of Ocean and Burlington Counties had burned, firefighters said, and only 10 percent of the fire had been contained. About 2,500 people had been forced from their houses, and three senior citizens’ homes also had been evacuated, officials said.
The blaze began shortly after 2 p.m. when an F-16 flying on a routine training mission from an air base in Atlantic City dropped a flare at the Warren Grove Gunnery Range in Ocean County, said Lt. Col. James Garcia, a spokesman for the New Jersey Air National Guard. The warplane was attached to the 177th Fighter Wing, based at the Atlantic City airport, and was practicing the use of a self-defense system in which flares are fired as decoys to mislead heat-seeking missiles, Colonel Garcia said. Continued...
