[MilCom] Pilot Error caused New Jersey Pinelands Fire

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Air Force: Pilot Error caused Pinelands Fire
By Samuel Dangremond
Inquirer Staff Writer

SHARON GEKOSKI-KIMMEL / Inquirer Staff Photographer
Edward and Joyce Chapman of Barnegat walk through the charred woods behind their house.
The woods burned and their house was damaged after a pilot dropped a flare in a practice
run.
A National Guard pilot who dropped low-altitude practice flares into the tinder-dry
brush and flagrant miscommunication caused May's wildfire that scorched more than 20
square miles of New Jersey's Pinelands, an Air Force accident investigation concluded.
Nobody told the New Jersey Air National Guard pilot before he dropped several practice
flares from an F-16 fighter jet that the forest-fire danger rating had been raised to
its highest level, according to the report, which says pilot error is the primary cause
of the huge blaze.
Despite the fire danger, a military control officer at the Warren Grove bombing range in
the Pinelands called for two F-16 fighter jets to perform an unplanned, low-altitude
"show of force maneuver," the report says. One of the pilots dropped several flares that
were still burning when they hit the ground, sparking a wildfire that roared out of
control for three days, destroying almost 18,000 acres of Pine Barrens, damaging dozens
of homes and other structures, hurting two people, and displacing thousands of people
from their homes and work.
As residents of scorched neighborhoods moved back into their rehabilitated homes,
politicians pointed to the accident report and repeated calls for safety improvements at
the bombing range, which is one of the East Coast's few air training ranges.
"It's clear that there were errors at multiple levels in the chain of command and that's
highly concerning for the safety of New Jersey residents," said Sen. Robert Menendez
(D., N.J.).
Menendez and Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D., N.J.), and the area's two congressmen said they
would press the military for what Rep. Jim Saxton (R., N.J.) called "real improvements
to safety for the surrounding communities."
Gov. Corzine, citing a string of serious accidents involving the bombing range, has
called for it to be closed. He said yesterday that he was "still concerned about the
safety of communities and families near the base" and would "study the report before
making any final decision about the facility's future," according to a spokesman.
The military, along with federal and state lawmakers and the governor, will review the
1,100-page report and determine what actions to take next, said Lt. Col. James Garcia,
spokesman for the New Jersey National Guard.
The report, dated June 20 and signed by Air Force Maj. Gen. Emmett R. Titshaw Jr.,
president of the accident review board, faults a lack of communication between the range
control officer and both fighter pilots.
The military's rules ban flare-dropping when the fire danger reaches its highest level,
the report says. Nevertheless, the unnamed control officer at the bombing range called
for the "show of force maneuver."
That maneuver typically involves a low-altitude, high-speed pass to demonstrate
superiority to an enemy. It can, but does not always, involve deploying flares,
according to experts.
Even when the fire threat is low, the gunnery range minimum altitude for flare-dropping
is 500 feet, the report says.
Nevertheless, one of the F-16 pilots dropped the flares at less than 500 feet.
The range control officer told investigators that he didn't know the fire-danger rating
had been raised five hours before the fire and didn't know that either pilot intended to
use flares, the report says. The pilot who dropped the flares also said he was unaware
of the fire danger, according to the report.
Warren Grove is one of the few training ranges on the East Coast, and proponents,
including Reps. Saxton and Frank LoBiondo (R., N.J.), have said it is a critical
military installation.
Closing the range, LoBiondo said yesterday, "would be detrimental to the region's and
the nation's security."
Along Brighton Road in Barnegat - at a senior citizen housing development damaged by the
wildfire - life was slowly getting back to normal this week.
New modular homes have replaced several that were destroyed, and others that were
damaged have been repaired. About 2,000 people have filed damage claims with the
military.
Edward Chapman, 80, a retired teacher, said the other day that he has been pleased with
the military's response to the fire, which burned the plastic siding of his house and a
sun porch.
"The Air Force said they would take care of it . . . and they did," he said.
Still, he said, the military can't bring back the luscious green forest that was
destroyed beyond his backyard.
"You can't change that for me," he said, pointing to the blackened trees that border his
property. "They say it'll come back in five years. . . . What am I going to do? Wait for
it?"
He said the bombing range's record of accidents doesn't convince him that the base
should be closed.
"We need all the protection we can get," Chapman said.
The fire was the latest mishap at the gunnery range.
In 2004, an F-16 Vulcan cannon mistakenly shot 1.5-inch training rounds into the Little
Egg Harbor Township Intermediate School. The pilot had been aiming at a target three
miles from the school. No one was injured.
In 2002, a pilot ejected from his F-16 before it crashed into the woods near the Garden
State Parkway. No injuries were reported.
In 1999, a pilot dropped a dummy bomb one mile off target, sparking a Pinelands fire
that burned 12,000 acres.

Read the military's findings, and view photographs from the fire at
http://go.philly.com/pinelands

Contact staff writer Samuel Dangremond at 856-779-3917
or sdangrem at phillynews.com.