Fire access lane clearing will finally begin in the Flanders pine barrens this summer, thanks to the efforts of the new chief of the Pine Barrens Wild Fire Task Force.
An Urban Search and Rescue Team drill exercise, to be conducted in conjunction with the civil engineering section and fire department at the Westhampton air base, will take place on Aug. 1 and 2, Wildfire Task Force chairman Chip Bancroft said today.
“They are proficient in the use of chain saws and will run a training scenario that includes cutting debris and fallen trees that are blocking the fire lanes” on county preserved lands, Bancroft said. “It will reinforce training on the skills of the guys and will help take care of some of the issues in the woods in Flanders.”
The USART is running a drill anyway that weekend, Bancroft said, so it won’t be an extra expense for the taxpayers.
Flanders Fire Chief Joseph Pettit said he was very grateful to hear the news.
A succession of chiefs of the volunteer department have lobbied the state and county to undertake basic maintenance in the Flanders woods, where an oak tree die-off a decade ago and years of no maintenance has made many fire lanes impassable.
In April, two brush trucks got stuck on downed trees on county land in the Flanders woods while battling a brush fire — an incident which had the potential for disaster, Pettit said. One of the brush trucks, from Riverhead Fire Department, snapped a tie rod and had to be towed out of the woods. It was driven by a 52-year-old firefighter who has almost 30 years experience driving the truck.
County Legislator Jay Schneiderman introduced a bill last month to authorize an intermunicipal agreement between the county and the fire district that would allow firefighters to go in with chain saws and clear the paths themselves. County parks commissioner Greg Dawson told the legislator he’d prefer to have the fire district apply for a permit to do the work, but Schneiderman said two weeks ago he was “forging ahead” with his bill anyway, pledging to “keep the pressure on.”
“If we can get the permit done, fine,” Schneiderman said. “But this has gone on long enough.”
The pine barrens commission is currently undertaking a survey and study of the entire pine barrens region to determine what kind of maintenance work needs to be done in which locations, pine barrens commission executive director John Pavacic told RiverheadLOCAL this spring.
The commission staff and environmental advocates are concerned about opening the fire lanes up because of the potential for off-the-road vehicles damaging the environmentally sensitive area and also the potential for illegal dumping.
Pavacic also expressed concerns about damaging or eliminating wildlife habitat provided by the felled trees.
Schneiderman said Thursday he was happy to hear about the drill and the prospect of the problem being addressed, with our without the county parks department, which he said is still looking for the fire district to obtain a permit for the work.
“I did not arrange this and didn’t even know about it,” Schneiderman said. “I hope that by putting pressure on [the county] I helped move it forward.”
After viewing a RiverheadLOCAL video documenting the problem, Schneiderman took a tour of the area with the Flanders fire chief and said it was hard to believe what he saw.
“Clearly it’s a disaster in the making,” he said.
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