Cause Of Wildfire Remains Under Investigation

Firewise Communities Try To Reduce Danger

By Bob Vosseller MANCHESTER

– The subject of evacuation plans came up during a recent Township Council meeting. Questions were directed to the Council and to the Office of Emergency Management. Ironically, a little over 24 hours later, dozens of residents were told to evacuate from their homes due to the Jimmy’s Water Hole wildfi re. The recent fi re may well prompt a revisit to the Firewise program. This involves volunteers addressing wildfire safety working with the State Forest Fire Service.

A few township villages already had Firewise Communities. The designation calls for residents to be educated on how to be proactive to minimize the chances of wildfi res and the losses that can occur.

By Bob Vosseller MANCHESTER – New Jersey Forest Fire Service

officials are continuing their investigation into the cause of last week’s 3,859-acre wildfi re which raged through the area on April 11 and 12 and was deemed 100 percent contained on the morning of April 13. Assistant Division Fire Warden NJ Forest Fire Service Trevor Raynor said that approximately 99% of wildfi res are through human cause.

Shore Sports Notebook: Hawk Basketball Grads, TRE Li le League Draw Crowds

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It was a terrifying situation for many people whose property was close to the fi re, which was named after the place it started – “Jimmy’s Water Hole.”

For members of the Proving Ground Church on Proving Ground Road in Lakehurst, the morning of April 12 was nothing less than frightening. They found themselves surrounded by flames as the wildfire made its way toward Division Street in the northwest

(Wildfire - See Page 4)

Resident Judy Auhmichel came out to the April 12 morning press conference concerning the Jimmy’s Water Hole Wildfire held at the Whiting Firehouse. While not a member of the press, she did ask Chief Fire Warden State Forest Fire Service Greg McLaughlin about the virtues of the Firewise Communities USA program.

(Danger - See Page 11)

Land Preserved In Berkeley And Manchester

By Bob Vosseller

OCEAN COUNTY – County meeting of the Board.

OCEAN COUNTY –

Their names will never be forgotten.

Todd Frazier. Scott Fisher. Chris Crawford. Brad Frank. Casey Gaynor. Eric Campesi. Gabe Gardner. Tom Gannon. R.J. Johansen. Joe Franceschini. Mike

Belostock. Chris Cardone. Manager Mike Gaynor. Coach Joe Franceschini. Coach Ken Kondek. And why not? All the aforementioned did as members of the Toms River East American Little League team, an all-star club, would captivate

(Sports - See Page 5) officials recently moved to purchase property in Berkeley and Manchester townships through recommendation of the County National Land Trust Fund Advisory Committee.

Members of the Ocean County

Board of Commissioners unanimously voted to approve the purchase in Berkeley Township and two properties in Manchester Township for preservation.

Board of Commissioners Deputy Director Commissioner Gary Quinn provided an overview about both properties during a recent

The first involved 4.99 acres located in the Mill Creek Headwaters Project Area in Berkeley. The money appropriated for the purchase was an amount not to exceed $244,800 plus up to $1,100 for property tax adjustments.

(Land - See Page 7)

DIRECT CREMATION $1995

Includes: arrangement conference, removal from place of death, alternative container Batesville ccbmdfc, transfer to crematory, crematory fee

“We are dedicated to exceeding expectations and delivering a standard of service that is 100% guaranteed.”

Wildfire:

Continued From Page 1 corner of the borough. Fortunately, there were no injuries nor damage to the building and programs at the church continued as scheduled.

“The fi re came to the edges of our parking lot. We are thankful for the fi rst responders who hosed down our building and pushed back the fi re,” Campus Pastor Brian Preiser remarked.

Lead Pastor Nick Daleo added, “we are thankful to all the firefighters who protected our church.”

On the front lines, firefighters saw it move quickly. NJ Forest Fire Service Chief State Fire Warden Gregory McLaughlin described what he observed. “I was there when the fire behavior increased and the fire essentially took off and started to spread very rapidly. This fire was moving at four and a half miles per hour which is extraordinary.”

“These things evolve so quickly. It doesn’t give you a lot of time to make decisions and to put those decisions into action especially when you have all these agencies involved,” he added.

Around 1:45 a.m. on April 12 the fire accelerated its pace. McLaughlin explained, “the terrain out there gradually ungulates down and it also goes from areas that are wet to areas that are dry and with those changes in topography you also have changes in the vegetation and the density of the vegetation there.”

McLaughlin added, “the fi re had gotten

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into an area where the vegetation was lighter and it slowed down and it gave us a chance to do some of our backfi ring operations along Central Avenue and then while we were pretty confident that this was working the fi re actually entered a patch of fuel that was really heavy.”

“That creates a pre-heating effect so as the fi re is spreading from tree to tree - each successive tree, bush or plant in front of the fi re heats up, dries out and ignites that much quicker and the fire begins to build on itself. You also had embers, burning bark and pine needles near a community that was three miles from where the fi re was,” McLaughlin further explained.

The fi re was moving north of Horicon Road and Beckerville Road on Route 70 south of the Joint Base and East of Rock Road in Lakehurst.

There had been 170 people evacuated on the night of April 11. They returned to their homes the next day and no further evacuations were required. “We pulled into a neighborhood on Division Street and we had at least 15 forest fi re brush trucks there and structure protection, Manchester Police and we said we need to get these people out of here,” McLaughlin said.

The Manchester Office of Emergency Management had ordered evacuations along Beckerville Road, Horicon Avenue and Horicon Drive of 70 people in the Whiting section of the township and 100 residents of Lakehurst between Division Street and Myrtle Street were evacuated. Sixty township residents went to the township high school shelter that was established.

McLaughlin said authorities, “started knocking on doors and blaring their sirens and they got on their loud speakers. People were coming out. It was late, 11 o’clock at night, people were sleeping and they were startled but for the most part people were cooperative.”

He added that evacuating them from their homes, “was for their protection but it is also helping us to be able to navigate the fire scene as the smoking is almost blinding and we have more traffic and more cars it makes it that much more dangerous.”

Manchester Police Chief Robert Dolan commended the cooperation of the numerous fi refighting and emergency response agencies involved. Raynor said there were no injuries reported nor any structural damage caused by the fi re.

Manchester Township Councilman Joseph Hankins who has a long association with firefighting noted that proactive training and a wide range of partnerships helped the rapid containment of the wildfire that bordered Manchester, Lakehurst and the military base. He noted that some of the challenges the fi refighters had “was availability of manpower, the command post was here at the Whiting firehouse but there were other staging areas with other equipment. All night (on April 11) there were a lot of pumpers and tankers that were available for structure protection for Horicon and Beckerville Road where a lot of the concerns were.”

Hankins said the proactive and consistent training drills by the various fi refighting agencies helped prepare fi refighters and helped prevent the wildfi re from becoming a greater danger to the public.

Sports:

Continued From Page 1 our nation, winning the 1998 Little League World Series at the Howard J. Lamade Stadium in South Williamsport, Pa. Fittingly, the team will be honored 25 years after its run Saturday, April 22. A parade will step off at 9 a.m. What promises to be an event as colorful as East’s pulsating march to the championship will conclude at the field on Windsor Avenue, the site of a 10 a.m. ceremony.

“It will be a huge parade,” said Tommy Noone, president of the Toms River East Little League. “We will march from the Toms River First Aid Squad building to the field.”

Teams from the Far East, specifically Japan and Taiwan, often dominated the LLWS. East put an end to that, downing Kashima, Zbaraki, Japan, in the World Championship Game, setting off a decibel-shattering roar among its fans in front of an ABC national television audience and becoming the fi rst American team to capture the crown since 1993.

“I always told folks, ‘Enjoy yourselves. It’s the best time ever,’ “ said manager Gaynor, whose team was 5-0 in the 52nd LLWS. “I don’t know why we were so successful. We were always the smallest and youngest team. We were not imposing by any stretch. On defense, we were strong and Fisher was a beast on the mound. We didn’t run that much. Campesi was quick. Fisher ran like the wind. Casey and Brad were kind of plodders. We had pretty headsy kids.

“They were all good students in school. They picked up on certain plays quickly. Our kids made the right decisions,” he said.

To hear manager Gaynor tell it, the coaching staff did not pressure its players to win.

“It was always about having a good time,” he said. “I told the boys, ‘You don’t go through life making excuses.’ I was the bad cop. Joe and Ken were the funny guys, the good guys. If the boys were upset, they ran to my coaches. Practices were a lot of fun. Kids received hot dogs and soda at our practices.”

Manager Gaynor said the team gave itself no chance of putting Toms River on the map.

“We had no hopes of winning anything entering the tournament (which began with District 18 play),” he said. “I had never met these kids before. I managed the Red Sox during the regular season. When I got these kids - other than when we played them - I did not know their personalities or tendencies. We were just happy to get out of the Districts. It was an interesting set of events that turned out well.”

Frazier was the main reason events turned out a whole lot better than well.

In a 12-9 victory in the World Championship Game, he stroked four hits in four atbats and set the tone, leading off the contest with a home run. And he was the winning pitcher. Frazier, who would achieve stardom at Toms River High School South under legendary coach Ken Frank, Rutgers University, the major leagues and was a silver medalist in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, homered in all but one of the club’s five games. He stroked nine hits, including one grand slam, and four homers. Small wonder he was inducted into the Little League Hall of Excellence in 2022 as part of the 75th anniversary celebration of the LLWS. It figures to be quite the day.

“Frazier and a couple of team members are scheduled to attend,” Noone said. “Our 13-and-under Eastern Regional, 12-under state champions and 12-under Majors Mason Invitational Tournament winners will also be honored.”

Manchester Hawks Soar In College

It was a successful season for ex-Manchester players Dakota Adams and Destiny Adams. Dakota Adams, a 5-foot-9 senior guard-forward, paced Rowan University in rebounding, averaging 7.4 boards per (Sports - See Page 11)

Land: Continued From Page 1

The first property in Manchester Township concerned around 7.21 acres on Wilbur Avenue and Renaissance Drive for no more than $612,000 plus up to $900 for property tax adjustments. The second property is on Wrangle Brook Road and Manchester Boulevard. It is 41.22 acres in an amount not to go over $212,500 plus up to $1,200 for property tax adjustments.

Quinn said the property by Wilbur Avenue “is adjacent to township property and in proximity to the future county park in Manchester Township off of Ridgeway Road. The acquisition of this property would stop family homes from being developed on the site and the property owner has accepted a bid of $612,000 based on our appraisals and the township has accepted this acquisition.”

Noting the Wrangle Brook Road and Manchester Boulevard property, Quinn said, “it is immediately adjacent to over 2,000 acres of state-owned Whiting Wildlife Management area. The township has supported this acquisition.”

The county collects money through an open space tax on every property. This money goes into a fund for specifically this purpose. Once a piece of land is identified, its owners are contacted to see if they want to sell to the county. Then, the property is appraised. The governing body of the town has to sign off on the purchase, because this takes the land off the tax rolls.