N.J. Wild Fire Stokes Tensions Near Air Range
Pastor Dale Morgan
N.J. Wild Fire Stokes Tensions Near Air Range
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Sunday May 20, 2007 3:16 AM
By WAYNE PARRY
Associated Press Writer
LITTLE EGG HARBOR TOWNSHIP (AP) - The Warren Grove Gunnery Range says it
tries hard to be a good neighbor to the growing communities in the New
Jersey Pine Barrens.
But if your neighbor repeatedly set the neighborhood on fire, crashed a
plane into it, and shot up the local elementary school, how neighborly
would you feel?
The latest hazard caused by the range - a massive forest fire that
burned 14,000 acres, damaged or destroyed a handful of homes and forced
6,000 people to flee - underscores the tensions between the base, which
trains pilots bound for Iraq and Afghanistan, and the ring of senior
citizen developments encroaching ever nearer.
``It should be shut down,'' said Joy Zomerdyke, who fled her Barnegat
home with her husband when a police officer frantically banged on the
door as the flames approached Tuesday afternoon, yelling for them to get
out immediately. ``There have been too many mistakes. People's lives
were in danger.''
Although the military is still investigating, National Guard officials
say they believe the fire started when a flare dropped from an F-16 jet
on a training maneuver ignited the tinder-dry Pinelands on a day when
special fire safety precautions were to be in effect.
The New Jersey Forest Fire Service had the fire 90 percent contained
Saturday, and crews continued to douse the remaining hot spots Saturday
night, said Bert Plante, a division fire warden.
The Zomerdykes were fortunate to return home two days later to an
unscathed home, right down to the can of beer Dan Zomerdyke had just
popped open before the evacuation order.
But across the street, Lester Balkie found only a pile of charred ashes
where he and his wife of 62 years had lived. Catherine Balkie passed
away last October, and now even his photographs of her are gone.
Yet in the face of devastation, Balkie bore no hostility toward the
range or its personnel.
``I'm a firm believer in the military,'' he said, wiping away tears as
he looked at the tiny handful of watch parts and coins his relatives
salvaged from the rubble. ``They're doing their job. But maybe there's a
better place for them to do it - like the Mojave Desert.''
The blaze was just the latest in a string of accidents at the Warren
Grove range:
- In April 1999, a Pennsylvania National Guard A-10 jet aiming for the
range instead dropped a dummy bomb a mile off-target over the Pinelands
in Burlington County, touching off a fire that burned 12,000 acres and
lasted four days.
- In June 2001, another errant bomb dropped by an F-16 caused a fire
that scorched 1,600 acres when the pilot missed a target area that had
been cleared of trees and brush.
- In January 2002, an F-16 crashed near the Garden State Parkway - the
third such crash at the range since 1992.
- And in November 2004, an F-16 mistakenly shot up an elementary school
when the pilot applied too much pressure on the trigger. The plane fired
25 rounds from its artillery cannon instead of activating a targeting
laser beam as he had intended. Fortunately, the school was empty aside
from a custodian, and no one was injured.
Immediately afterward, the largely conservative, blue-collar region
seemed evenly split between residents irked by the range, and staunchly
pro-military residents with ``God Bless Our Troops'' bumper stickers and
yellow ribbons slathered over their pickup trucks.
But this week's fire, threatening thousands of people, seems to have
tipped the balance of public opinion.
``It's wearing my patience thin,'' said Sharon Ragonese of Barnegat.
``You would think after the incident with the school, they'd learn to be
more careful.''
Range officials were on the defensive again.
``I can assure you our number one priority is the safe operation of this
range,'' said Maj. Gen. Glenn K. Rieth, the head of the National Guard
in New Jersey. ``It's a vital function these men and women are
performing for this nation. It's our responsibility to make sure they do
it safely.''
The military is also catching flak from elected officials.
``This fire never should have started - period,'' said U.S. Sen. Frank
Lautenberg, D-N.J., who plans to meet with Air Force and National Guard
officials Monday to discuss the future of the range.
``This fire started because the National Guard did not follow proper
safety procedures - procedures I called for nearly three years ago,''
Lautenberg said. ``New Jersey expects their military to act more safely
and more carefully.''
Lawmakers from Ocean County are calling for the bombing range to be
closed. State Sen. Leonard Connors and Assemblymen Christopher Connors
and Brian Rumpf said operations need to be suspended immediately as a
prelude to a shutdown.
Rieth said the Air Force has opened two investigations, one focusing on
the accident itself, and one on whether safety precautions were followed
or need to be improved.
He also said the military will reimburse people whose homes or property
were damaged in the fire.
Mike Grabowski, who lives adjacent to the range in Stafford Township,
noted the booming population around the range.
``I don't know of anyone who moved here not knowing they were moving in
next to a bombing range,'' he said. ``It's a trade-off you make. I know
we're at war and these guys need to do their training. But they need to
get their act together.''