August 2022 CAI-NJ

FIREWISE COMMUNITIES By Paul Raetsch, Horizons at Woods Landing

“In June 2022, there was a 15,000-acre fire in Atlantic and Burlington counties...”

Horizons at Woods Landing (HWL) in Mays Landing, has been certified by the National Fire Protection Association, which is co-sponsored by the USDA Forest Service, as a Firewise Community since 2010. Of the 1,800 Firewise communities in the US, twenty-three are in New Jersey and twenty-one of them, including HWL, are located within the heavily forested New Jersey Pinelands National Preserve. The Pinelands is a fire adapted ecological landmass of 1.1 million acres with some of the most hazardous wild land fuel types in the nation. The community’s 249 single family lots are encircled by 224 acres of common ground, all of it heavily forested in what is called the Pine Barrens.

I n June 2022, there was a 15,000-acre fire in Atlantic and Burlington counties which threatened historic Batsto Village. This resulted in 2,000 residents being evacuated, including two age-restricted communities in Manchester and Barnegat townships. The HWL experience with Firewise may convince other communities to join the program. In New Jersey, the New Jersey Forest Fire Service (NJFFS) administers a small federal grant program to help reimburse Firewise communities for suppression work. Subsequent to CONT I NU E S ON PAGE 30

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Courtesy CAI-NJ.