(gentle music)
- [Narrator] What you're about to see
are the events that led to four fatalities
on the Bass River fire on July 22nd, 1977.
The Bass River fire occurred in the Bass River State Forest,
located in New Jersey's coastal plain Pine Lands Reserve.
The area burned by the Bass River fire
is in the same vicinity where five firefighters were killed
while fighting a forest fire in 1936.
The coastal plain is flat to gently rolling
and the Pine Barrens fuel type dominate the area.
Pitch pine is the primary species found in this fuel type.
Fire spread quickly in these fuels
and crown fires are common, as is long range spotting.
Fire behavior exhibited by the Pine Barrens fuel type
closely resembles that of Chaparral fuels in California.
New Jersey had been in drought conditions
for the first six months of 1977
and had been experiencing a prolonged heat wave
since July 13th.
The afternoon fire weather readings on the day of the fire,
as reported by the Bass River fire tower were,
sky clear, temperature 91 degrees,
wind 12 miles per hour from the northwest
with gusts to 20 miles an hour,
relative humidity 27%, one hour fuel moisture 3%.
And the fire danger rating for the day was extreme.
At 1459 hours, The Bass River fire tower reported a smoke
approximately three and a half miles to the north
in the vicinity of Allen and Oswego roads.
This was known to be a bad fire area
because of current fuel conditions and past fire history.
The smoke was also picked up by several other fire towers.
Five brush trucks with 10 firefighters
were dispatched immediately.
The fire was approximately five acres in size
when the initial attack units arrived on the scene at 1505.
At 1516, they reported the fire at 25 acres and crowning.
The local division fire warden arrived over the fire
in an observation helicopter at 1537
and estimated the fire to be in excess of 100 acres.
The first two brush trucks on the scene
started a direct attack
using pump and roll tactics on the flanks of the fire.
Working from the point of origin
toward the head of the fire.
The incident commander was in the brush truck
working the left flank.
Two more brush trucks and tractor plow unit arrived
and joined the operation shortly thereafter.
These additional resources concentrated their effort
on the right flank of the fire.
At 1536, Eagleswood Volunteer Fire Company number one
was requested to respond to the fire.
They arrived on the scene at 1545 in engine 731,
an army surplus five and a half ton truck,
the incident commander gave engine 731 the following orders.
"Hit the line and turn to your right, that would be south,
and try to catch her.
We might have to move out to the other side.
There's a tractor and plow there on the line.
Meet him and follow him down.
When you get to him, let us know."
All communications between the incident commander
and engine 731 or by radio.
Engine 731 did not acknowledge the last transmission
from the incident commander.
Engine 731 was staffed with a crew of four.
And the company officer that day
was the chief of the department.
Engine 731 was operating
on its normal county radio frequency.
The incident commander was operating on the state frequency.
He had to switch over
to the county frequency to talk to engine 731
or any other volunteer fire department units.
Initial attack efforts were suspended at 1547
due to very active fire behavior.
And the incident commander ordered all units to pull out
and move to Cole Road.
Engine 731 never acknowledged the order to pull out.
In response to the rapid fire growth,
the incident commander requested additional resources
from the volunteer fire departments
of the nearby communities of Tuckerton, Stafford
and from Burlington, Ocean and Atlantic counties.
First three brush trucks
that arrived at Cole Road began backfiring.
This operation was unsuccessful.
At 16:12, the incident commander ordered all units
to proceed to the Dans Bridge Road.
As units began arriving at Dans Bridge Road,
the division fire warden in the observation helicopter
directed them to initiate a backfiring operation
along that road, moving from north to south.
Ground forces reported numerous spot fires
across the Dans Bridge Road at 1630
and that they could no longer hold the backfire.
At this time, the observation helicopter
estimated the fire to be 500 acres.
Between 1630 and 1700,
a number of significant wind shifts were reported.
At 1630, the wind shifted from northwest to southwest.
At 1640, battling winds were reported.
At 1650, the winds were out of the northeast.
The fire crossed Dans Bridge Road and headed southeast
into the Lake Absegami recreation area
which had been evacuated earlier as a precaution.
During this time, the fire displayed rapid lateral spread
along the flanks due to horizontal roll vortex activity
as it transitioned from wind-driven to plume dominated.
The fire moved two and a half miles in two hours.
The forward spread of the fire was halted
at approximately 1730, northwest of Lake Absegami.
This was accomplished with a backfire
during which firefighters were forced into the lake
because of the fire's intensity.
The fire was contained at 2300 acres
the next morning at 08:30.
During the hectic transition
from direct attack to indirect attack,
the status of engine 731 was unknown
and no other resources had reported any contact with them.
At 1652, there was a possible radio transmission
from engine 731, but a tone out
by the Ocean County Control Center overrode it.
At 1655, there was an attempt to contact engine 731
with no detectable response.
At 1659, there was another possible radio transmission
from engine 731.
All that was heard were the sounds of static
and the humming from an open microphone.
At 1700, a third possible radio transmission was received
from engine 731, but it was mostly overridden
by other transmissions.
Someone was heard saying, "I don't know how to drive it.
I've never driven it before."
At 1701, the sounds of static
and the humming from an open microphone were heard again.
At 1702, over the sounds of static and humming,
the following words spoken by a faint voice were heard,
"This is 730..."
The microphone remained open and the transmission tailed off
with a word that sounded like hell.
After that, the transmission cut off
and all static and humming ceased.
The observation helicopter spotted the charred remains
of engine 731 shortly after 1800.
Engine 731 was found
near the original right flank of the fire,
where they were initially directed
to begin their flanking attack.
However, they were not on the fire line or a road.
The signature pattern left
by horizontal role vortex activity
covered the area of the burnover.
This would indicate that engine 731 was caught by the vortex
along the flank they were working
An examination of the engine show
that the radio ariel was hanging on the left side
of the truck cab.
The ceramic fitting attaching the aerial to the truck
was broken
Hose were found on the ground
on the right side of the truck.
The pump handle was full open.
It's possible that some of the crew members pulled hose
and connected it to the pump
in an attempt to create a water curtain for protection.
The bodies of the company officer and one crew member
were found 600 feet from the engine
in a direction back into the fire
toward the point of origin.
The bodies of the other two crew members
were found near the engine.
Today, memorials commemorating the nine lives lost
during the suppression efforts on the Bass River fires
of 1936 and 1977 rest side by side
in the Bass River State Forest.
You have just seen the events that occurred
on the 1977 Bass River fire.
The instructor will now facilitate a discussion
about the use of fire safety guidelines
by the involved personnel,
the strategic and tactical decisions that were made
and the human factors that contributed
to this burnover incident.
(solemn music)