Incident Name: Unknown
Date: 05/20/1936
Personnel: 5 Lives Lost
Age:
Agency/Organization: Bass River CCC and NJ State Fire Wardens
Position: firefighters
Summary:
Kingsley White, 38, NJ State Fire Warden
Ira Morey, 35NJ State Fire Warden
Stanley “Smokey” Carr, 22, Bass River CCC Firefighter
Edward Sullivan, 20, Bass River CCC Firefighter
John LaSalle, 20, Bass River CCC Firefighter
Since this fire happened so long ago, many of the details are not known. According to local history and accounts passed down, the fire itself was quite large (133 square miles, 20,000 acres) and threatened a number of communities from Mannahawkin to Tuckerton. By one account, of the 750 men fighting the fire, 25 were wardens, 300 were assistants, 200 were Bass River CCC workers and 200 were from the 18th US Infantry at Camp Dix. The burnover occurred between Stafford Forge and Mayetta east of the Garden State Parkway (the Parkway was built in the early 1950s). It is believed that a truck had become stuck in the sugar sand. A second truck got behind him an gave him a push. It was the second truck that was burned over as the wind shifted and trapped the men. Two fire wardens and three CCC firefighters were killed. Many more suffered 1st and 2nd degree burns. (See the October 2006 Bass River Gazette at the link below for known details and eyewitness accounts.)
Bass River CCC who fought the fire: (from the Bass River State Forest Archives)
Pine Barrens Fuels:
Maps
Approximate Burnover Location for the 1936 Bass River Fire
{mosmap lat=’39.67760’| lon=’-74.29334’|text=’Approximate Burnover Location for the 1936 Bass River Fire’}
Reports, Documentation, Lessons Learned
- NWCG: Historical Wildland Fire Fatalities 1910-1996 (408 K pdf)Date: 1936
Location: Chatsworth, NJ
Fatalities: 5
Agency: Other
Fire Behavior: Wind shift in grass and trees
Remarks: Backfire operation
- Bass River Gazette: Memorial rededication issue October 2006 (681 K pdf)
- You Tube: 1936 News: New Jersey Pine Barrens Forest Fire – Sky Camera Ace Films (1 min 6 sec film clip) (Jack Kuhne, photographer)
- News article: Five Fire Fighters Die in Forest Blaze
- Martin Alexander & Miguel Cruz, 2011: What are the Safety Implications of Crown Fires?
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Wildlandfire.com Links:
Media Articles and Reports.
- Five Killed, Many Injured in Greatest Forest Fires in the History of Two CountiesNew Jersey Mirror, May 27, 1936
Photos, Videos, & Tributes
Fire Fighter Memorial at Bass River State Forest. Memorial location: N39, 40’, 06.3” by W74, 26’, 27.4”. Greenbush Rd. near the intersection of Stage Rd, Tuckerton, NJ.;
{mosmap lat=’ 39.622057’|lon=’-74.439644’|marker=’0’|text=’1936 Memorial Location’}
The Bass River Memorial was originally dedicated on May 25, 1976 to commemorate the 40th Anniversary loss of 5 fire fighters (two State Fire Wardens and three Civilian Conservation Corps fire fighters) who were burned over while fighting a forest fire near the Town of Warren Grove in 1936.
On July 22, 1977 four Volunteer Fire Fighters from the Eagleswood Fire Company were killed when their engine was burned over on a fire several miles from this memorial. In 1982 a plaque remembering these fire fighters was added to the existing memorial. Another memorial stone was placed by the fire company in front of the Forest Office.
Map from the NJFS
Contributors to this article: Bill Edwards, Section Forest Fire Warden, NJ Forest Fire Service, Mellie, Aaron Small
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The weather map for 25 May 1936 is available here:
http://docs.lib.noaa.gov/rescue/dwm/1936/19360525.djvu
Which shows the wind direction, etc. for the previous days observations. The weather map for 26 May 1936 (which has the observations for 25 May) is here:
http://docs.lib.noaa.gov/rescue/dwm/1936/19360526.djvu
Which shows the passage of a cold-front (high pressure system) over NJ, with associated extreme variation in wind direction and speed.