Post by scannerman5555 on May 15, 2004 11:28:17 GMT -5
Rocky Point
Firefighters' methods in pine barrens blazes eyed
BY ANN GIVENS
STAFF WRITER
May 15, 2004
The state Pine Barrens Commission is looking into whether firefighters used proper procedures when they battled two recent blazes in the pine barrens region recently.
Some environmentalists have complained the volunteer firefighters, responding from 40 departments, bulldozed miles-long paths through the environmentally sensitive region in Rocky Point, felling hundreds of trees that will take years to grow back.
"It looks more like a development project than a forest," said ecologist Mindy Block, of Port Jefferson, who heads the nonprofit group Quality Parks. Block and other environmentalists have spent several days replanting trees in the cleared land, and pulling fallen trees across the bulldozers' tracks to discourage all-terrain vehicles from driving along them.
Firefighters said they used proper precautions to put out the fires, which had several different points of origin and were spreading rapidly because of wind and dry conditions.
"They handled it extremely well," said Dave Fischler, commissioner of Suffolk County Fire Rescue, which oversees local volunteer fire departments. "Any time we can put it out and go home with no injuries or deaths, we're ahead of the game."
The state Pine Barrens Commission, which is charged with enforcing the 1993 Pine Barrens Act, is set to discuss the handling of the fires at its regular meeting Wednesday. The meeting will take place at 2 p.m. in the new Brookhaven Town Hall in Farmingville.
"Each fire is a learning experience," said Department of Environmental Conservation spokesman Bill Fonda. "You should examine your actions and learn from them."
Fueling the current controversy, several people involved agree, are the still-fresh memories of the 1995 wildfires, which blackened 5,500 acres of pine barrens. Since then, firefighters have exercised an abundance of caution when fighting any wildfire, knowing that any brush fire could spread into a major catastrophe. And officials are always hesitant to criticize the brave volunteers who saved residents' lives and all but one home during the historic event.
Still, several officials familiar with the recent fires said privately that the force used in fighting them may have been excessive.
Two main fires are being looked at, one on April 21, and one on April 30, officials said. Both took place on land owned by the state Department of Environmental Conservation and covered about 60 acres total.
One official familiar with the incidents, who asked that his name not be used, said 46 fire departments fought a part of the fire covering only 32 acres -- a response he said seemed excessive. He also said, at the April 30 fire, bulldozers were still heading into the woods even after the blaze was out.
But firefighters said bulldozers are necessary to make a fire break, so a fire can't advance. They said in at least one of the April fires, six separate fires were burning, making it imperative for them to quash them as quickly as possible.
"Even though it looks like the fire is burning on top, it will spread below the surface," said Walter Olszewski, chief of the Middle Island Fire Department, which responded to the fires.
Richard Amper, executive director of the Long Island Pine Barrens Society, said he's confident the firefighters did what they had to do.
"It would be completely unfair to assess blame here," he said. "It's not fair to say that they're being indifferent to the pine barrens when they try to suppress a fire. They're just trying to do their job." But other environmentalists weren't so sure.
"It will take 30 years to come back," said Ken Kindler, a trails activist concerned about the damage. "And even then there will be a scar."
Copyright © 2004, Newsday, Inc.