Jordan Gass-Poore’ – Host
IT STARTED AS A CAMPFIRE… AND GREW INTO THE LARGEST WILDFIRE NEW JERSEY’S SEEN IN MORE THAN A DECADE.
Briana Vannozzi – Anchor, NJ Spotlight News
Firefighters in South Jersey are still battling a massive wildfire that broke out Sunday in Wharton State Forest.
Ted Goldberg –Reporter, NJ Spotlight News
The New Jersey Forest Fire Service says it’s finally gotten a handle on the Mullica River fire, that started burning Sunday.
Jordan Gass-Poore’ – Host
THE BLAZE… CALLED THE MULLICA RIVER FIRE… BURNED 15,000 ACRES IN WHARTON STATE FOREST THIS PAST JUNE.
FROM THE SKY IT LOOKED LIKE LIT MATCHES BLOWING IN THE WIND… CASTING A YELLOW HAZE OVER MOST OF SOUTH JERSEY.
THERE WERE NO INJURIES… BUT SEVERAL CAMPGROUNDS AND FARMS WERE THREATENED.
FIRES IN THE PINELANDS GENERALLY DON’T CAUSE CASUALTIES… BUT PROPERTY LOSS CAN AMOUNT TO MILLIONS OF DOLLARS FROM EACH FIRE… ESPECIALLY IF HOMES OR STRUCTURES ARE DAMAGED.
WILDFIRES AREN’T NEW IN THE STATE… BUT CLIMATE CHANGE IS CHANGING THE INTENSITY… DURATION… AND WHEN THEY OCCUR.
WITHIN THE SOUTHERN REACHES OF THE PINES… THE EPA IS TRYING TO WORK AROUND THOSE RISKS AS THEY TRY TO CLEAN UP A TOXIC LANDFILL NEARBY.
BUT ALL IT COULD TAKE IS A SPARK TO HARM THEIR EFFORTS.
THIS IS HAZARD… A LIMITED SERIES ABOUT THE IMPACTS OF CLIMATE CHANGE ON SUPERFUND SITES HERE IN NEW JERSEY.
I’M JORDAN GASS-POORE’… AN INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALIST FROM TEXAS.
WHEN I WAS A KID… I WAS DEATHLY AFRAID OF FIRE. OVENS… STOVES… MATCHES… YOU NAME IT… ANYTHING THAT COULD LIGHT ON FIRE TERRIFIED ME.
OH… AND I DON’T GO CAMPING BECAUSE OF MOSQUITOES… BUT ALSO BECAUSE BUILDING A CAMPFIRE JUST SOUNDS LIKE A RECIPE FOR DISASTER.
I WOULD WATCH THAT TV SHOW ARE YOU AFRAID OF THE DARK… WHERE THESE KIDS SIT AROUND A CAMPFIRE AND TELL GHOST STORIES… BAFFLED THAT THEY WEREN’T MORE AFRAID OF STARTING A FOREST FIRE.
SMOKEY THE BEAR ALSO REALLY SCARED ME… LIKE… MAN… WHY AM I THE ONLY ONE THAT CAN PREVENT FOREST FIRES? I’M NOT EVEN CAMPING.
PUTTING MY CHILDHOOD NEUROSES ASIDE… I RECENTLY FOUND MYSELF IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NEW JERSEY PINELANDS. TURNS OUT… THAT’S ONE OF THE MOST WILDFIRE-PRONE AREAS IN THE COUNTRY.
I WAS THERE TO VISIT EMMELL’S SEPTIC LANDFILL… A 38-ACRE SUPERFUND SITE IN GALLOWAY TOWNSHIP THAT’S SURROUNDED BY PINE FOREST.
BACK IN THE ’60S AND ’70S… WHEN THE SITE OPERATED AS A DUMP FOR SEPTIC WASTE… AND… REPORTEDLY… DRUMS OF PAINT SLUDGE… THE FOREST HELPED HIDE THE EMMELL FAMILY’S ILLEGAL ACTIVITIES.
TODAY… THE FOREST AND THE THREAT OF WILDFIRES PUT THE SITE AT RISK.
Joe Gowers – Project Manager, EPA
What they were supposed to do was to bring in septic waste, they were supposed to pour it out, basically on the ground. And they were supposed to just get in or plow it into the ground. At some point during that operations, they decided to start illegally taking in chemical waste.
Jordan Gass-Poore’ – Host
JOE GOWERS HAS BEEN THE EPA PROJECT MANAGER FOR THE EMMELL SITE SINCE IT WAS LISTED IN 1999.
Joe Gowers – Project Manager, EPA
And, ultimately, what we found was about 438 drums of what looked like to be paint sludge was disposed of in the ground at the site and that sort of triggered the contamination problem here because the solvents related to that leach into the groundwater, and then we had groundwater contamination related to the site.
Jordan Gass-Poore’ – Host
THE EPA WAS INITIALLY CONCERNED THAT THE FEW RESIDENTS WHO LIVE NEAR THIS RURAL SITE WERE DRINKING CONTAMINATED WELL WATER… TAINTED BY THAT PAINT SLUDGE.
SO… IN 2003… THE AGENCY CONNECTED RESIDENTS WHO WERE POTENTIALLY THREATENED BY THE POLLUTION TO THE LOCAL WATER COMPANY’S SUPPLY.
AS THEY CONTINUED THEIR INVESTIGATIONS… GOWERS SAYS THEY FOUND MORE CONTAMINATED WELLS.
Joe Gowers – Project Manager, EPA
In 2008 and 2010, our removal program, once again, came in and basically provided an alternate water supply for those residences, and what they did was install deeper groundwater monitoring wells into an unimpacted aquifer below about 50 to 100 feet of clay out there, and those wells are down about 300 feet.
Jordan Gass-Poore’ – Host
SINCE 2010… MILLIONS OF GALLONS OF WATER HAVE BEEN TREATED AT THE EPA’S GROUNDWATER EXTRACTION AND TREATMENT FACILITY ON THE SITE.
WHILE THE GROUNDWATER IS THE EPA’S PRIMARY CONCERN… GOWERS SAYS THEY FOUND PCBs… A LIKELY HUMAN CARCINOGENIC… IN SOME OF THE SOIL.
Joe Gowers – Project Manager, EPA
Those materials were excavated from the site, those materials were more of a direct contact risk, they generally don’t get into groundwater and provide risk in that fashion.
Jordan Gass-Poore’ – Host
I WALKED WITH GOWERS AROUND PARTS OF THE SITE… A GLORIFIED FIELD THAT… IF YOU DIDN’T KNOW ABOUT THE SITE’S HISTORY… AND DIDN’T SEE THE EPA SIGN… WOULD PROBABLY LET YOUR KIDS PLAY SOCCER ON.
Joe Gowers – Project Manager, EPA
That area that’s fenced off is actually part of the groundwater pump and treat system here, those are recharge basins. So that’s where the clean water goes after it’s been treated. And, you know, the process of that is basically they re-inject or basically discharge the clean groundwater there, it percolates back down, that causes mounting, which helps push the groundwater towards the extraction well. So it actually helps with the groundwater cleaning process here.
Jordan Gass-Poore’ – Host
WE WALKED TO A CLEARING… WHERE REPORTS SAY DECADES AGO PEOPLE PAID THE EMMELL’S TO BURY DRUMS OF PAINT SLUDGE WASTE AND DUMP CHEMICALS RIGHT ONTO THE GROUND.
Joe Gowers – Project Manager, EPA
They began illegally taking in chemical waste, the drums of paint sludge that we found, and that area where that was found was back in this tree line, you can see the cut in the tree line over here. So back in that area was where they had apparently dug a pit and then put in at least 438 drums of paint sludge and then covered that over. So that was basically the way the operations were conducted here. I know that during their operations they even mishandled it seemed the septic waste they got they got cited at least once that I’m aware of, I think it was maybe twice by the state of New Jersey because they were allowing septic waste to be ponded on the site when they were actually, you know, supposed to be plowing that stuff in.
Jordan Gass-Poore’ – Host
THE EPA STARTED TO CLEAN UP THIS LANDFILL SITE IN 1999… AND GOWERS SAYS THE AGENCY WILL TURN OVER OPERATION OF THE PUMP AND TREAT SYSTEM HERE TO THE NEW JERSEY DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AS EARLY AS NEXT YEAR.
OF THE SUPERFUND SITES LOCATED IN THE PINELANDS… EMMELL’S SEPTIC LANDFILL IS ONE OF SEVENTEEN THAT REMAINS ON THE LIST.
AND WITH THAT MANY TOXIC SITES IN THE AREA… IT’S IMPORTANT TO CLEAN THEM UP BEFORE THEY’RE DAMAGED BY WILDFIRES.
CLIMATE CHANGE IS MAKING THIS AREA MORE SUSCEPTIBLE TO WILDFIRES… AND MORE DIFFICULT FOR FIREFIGHTERS TO FIGHT THEM.
WHEN THERE’S LOW HUMIDITY AND HIGH HEAT… VEGETATION STARTS TO DRY AND WILT. THESE ARE THE KEY INGREDIENTS FOR A WILDFIRE DISASTER… A PERFECT STORM.
NEW JERSEY’S WILDFIRE SEASON HAS HISTORICALLY PEAKED IN THE LATE SPRING AND EARLY SUMMER. BUT NOW… THE SHIFT IN CONDITIONS HAS ALLOWED WILDFIRES TO GET MORE INTENSE… AND SPARK MORE EASILY THROUGHOUT THE ENTIRE YEAR.
TO PREVENT A WILDFIRE FROM SWEEPING ONTO THE EMMELL’S SITE… AND DESTROYING WHAT APPEARED TO BE AN EXPENSIVE PUMP AND TREAT FACILITY… GOWERS SAYS THEY KEEP THE AREA AROUND THE BUILDING FREE FROM BRUSH.
IN THE OFF CHANCE A WILDFIRE DID DAMAGE THE FACILITY… HE SAYS THEY’D SHUT IT DOWN UNTIL THE BUILDING COULD BE REPAIRED.
THAT MEANS THE CONTAMINATED GROUNDWATER WOULD BE SITTING IN THE AQUIFER AND COULD MOVE AROUND. BUT GOWERS SAYS HE ISN’T CONCERNED.
Joe Gowers – Project Manager, EPA
Groundwater contamination down here in Southern Jersey, the type of aquifer you’re dealing with, you’re looking at groundwater that might move a foot a day. So, if it’s shut down for a month, it might move 30 feet. So, once you start the extraction wells up again, it should theoretically pull most of that contamination back.
Jordan Gass-Poore’ – Host
EMMELL’S SEPTIC LANDFILL MAY BE THE QUIETEST SUPERFUND SITE I’VE COVERED ON THIS PODCAST… BOTH IN TERMS OF LOCATION… WHERE CICADAS WERE THE ONLY THINGS I HEARD… AND VIRTUALLY NO NEWS COVERAGE.
I COULDN’T FIND OUT MUCH ABOUT THE SITE ONLINE. THERE’S NO COMMUNITY ACTION GROUP MAKING SURE THIS SITE GETS CLEANED UP.
Jaclyn Rhodes – Assistant Executive Director, Pinelands Preservation Alliance
More people, more exposure, more liability, right? Less people, less exposure, less liability. So, often what my experience has been for Superfund sites, it’s typically the community that brings up the issue. And if you don’t have a big community that’s complaining about it, or you address those that are being exposed because there’s a long list of Superfund sites.
Jordan Gass-Poore’ – Host
THAT’S JACLYN RHODES… THE ASSISTANT EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF THE PINELANDS PRESERVATION ALLIANCE.
I MET UP WITH HER ON THE SITE TO FIND OUT MORE ABOUT ITS HISTORY… AND FUTURE POTENTIAL WILDFIRE RISK.
Jaclyn Rhodes – Assistant Executive Director, Pinelands Preservation Alliance
You would have to have an exceptional fire, very hot, burning for a long period of time for it to pass through an area that has, you know, essentially almost like a fire break around that typically gets moved out of woody vegetation from coming up.
Jordan Gass-Poore’ – Host
THE GOOD THING ABOUT EMMELL’S… AND OTHER SUPERFUND SITES THAT WERE LANDFILLS… IS THAT THEY HAVE LESS TREES AND MORE OF A GRASSLAND ENVIRONMENT. THIS PROTECTS THE SITE FROM A WILDFIRE GOING STRAIGHT THROUGH THE AREA.
EVEN IF A FIRE DID GO THROUGH THE SITE… THE EPA’S ALREADY REMOVED CONTAMINANTS FROM THE SOIL… SO THERE’S NOT REALLY A RISK OF THESE CHEMICALS BURNING OFF AND EFFECTING THE AIR QUALITY FOR THE SURROUNDING COMMUNITIES.
IN THE PINELANDS… FIRE IS A PART OF LIFE.
BUT THE WILDFIRES THAT HAVE SHAPED THE LANDSCAPE FOR CENTURIES… NOW THREATEN TO DESTROY THE COMMUNITIES WITHIN IT.
Mike Gallagher – Fire Ecologist, US Forest Service
So, this here is the Silas Little Experimental Forest.
Jordan Gass-Poore’ – Host
I MET MIKE GALLAGHER AT HIS OFFICE IN NEW LISBON… ABOUT AN HOUR NORTH OF GALLOWAY AND THE EMMELL SITE… ON THE OTHER END OF THE MILLION-ACRE PINELANDS NATIONAL RESERVE.
HE’S A FIRE ECOLOGIST WITH THE US FOREST SERVICE… AND HIS JOB REQUIRES HIM TO INTENTIONALLY START AND STUDY FIRES.
THERE’S A NAME FOR THIS PRACTICE… AND IT DOESN’T INCLUDE THE WORD MANIA.
IT’S CALLED PRESCRIBED BURNING… AND THE IDEA IS TO PURPOSEFULLY SET SMALL… CONTROLLED FIRES TO PREVENT CATASTROPHIC WILDFIRES.
IT WORKS BECAUSE THE CONTROLLED BURNS ESSENTIALLY CLEAN UP THE FOREST… CLEARING OUT BRUSH AND DEAD VEGETATION THAT WOULD OTHERWISE BE PRIME FUEL FOR A FUTURE WILDFIRE.
THIS PRACTICE… THOUGH… DIDN’T START WITH THE US FOREST SERVICE.
Mike Gallagher – Fire Ecologist, US Forest Service
Cranberry growers we’re doing that since cranberries started as an industry, really before the 1840s, 1850s and folks were burning around their bogs regularly. But that culture was probably, well, almost inevitably, picked up by the Native Americans who were living here when Europeans got here because this sort of burning really wasn’t a big thing in Europe, where a lot of folks came from. And that was adopted and still doing it today.
Jordan Gass-Poore’ – Host
I WANTED TO SEE THE EFFECTS OF FIRE MYSELF. SO… MIKE AND I DROVE THE FEW MINUTES DOWN THE ROAD FROM HIS OFFICE TO BRENDAN T BYRNE STATE FOREST.
Mike Gallagher – Fire Ecologist, US Forest Service
On the one side of the road, here, we have a fire-excluded forest. And on the other side of the road, we have this area that was burned in a wildfire last year in 2021.
Jordan Gass-Poore’ – Host
BLACKENED TREES INDICATED WHERE THE FIRE MOVED IN-AND-OUT OF THE FOREST.
MIKE SAYS PRESCRIBED BURNS HAD TAKEN PLACE IN THIS AREA BEFORE… BUT IT HAD BEEN A WHILE.
PRESCRIBED BURNS ARE TOUGH TO CARRY OUT. THEY’RE COSTLY… LABOR INTENSIVE… AND ARE CONTINGENT ON FAVORABLE WEATHER.
CLIMATE CHANGE IS MAKING THESE INTENTIONAL BURNS EVEN MORE COMPLICATED TO CARRY OUT.
EVEN THOUGH NEW JERSEY IS SEEING MORE RAIN AND SNOW AS THE CLIMATE CHANGES… THAT PRECIPITATION IS INCREASINGLY CONCENTRATED IN HEAVY STORMS… WITH LONGER DRY SPELLS IN BETWEEN.
THAT MEANS WILDFIRE SEASON IS GROWING LONGER… NARROWING THE WINDOWS FOR PERFORMING PRESCRIBED BURNS SAFELY.
Mike Gallagher – Fire Ecologist, US Forest Service
We’re seeing more wet weather in some years during our prescribed burn season. So, either more wet weather or more fire weather. So, what that means is that there’s fewer days available to do prescribed burns because either it’s too wet and it won’t burn or it’s too flammable.
Jordan Gass-Poore’ – Host
NEW JERSEY HASN’T SEEN THE TYPES OF DEVASTATING MEGAFIRES THAT HAVE BECOME COMMON IN WESTERN STATES LIKE CALIFORNIA.
BUT MIKE SAYS THAT DOESN’T MEAN THE GARDEN STATE’S NOT AT RISK OF CATASTROPHIC WILDFIRES… ESPECIALLY AS TOWNS ON THE FOREST FRINGES BECOME MORE HEAVILY DEVELOPED… AND MORE PEOPLE MOVE INTO FIRE-PRONE AREAS.
THOUGH HE NOTES THE FIRES IN NEW JERSEY TEND TO BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY.
Mike Gallagher – Fire Ecologist, US Forest Service
One of the reasons that maybe we don’t think about big fires as much here is because our fires do get big and they happen in one operational period, so one shift. Out west, their fires tend to burn a lot longer. Sometimes long enough that people from New Jersey have time to get there and help out. The history, they talk about how little rain they had leading up to some of those big fires. And so, this environment has a predisposition to dry out very quickly, because of its foundation, basically.
Jordan Gass-Poore’ – Host
THE SOIL IN THE PINELANDS IS SANDY… SO WHEN IT RAINS… WATER DOESN’T STICK AROUND. IT GOES DOWN TO THE AQUIFER QUICKLY.
MIKE SAYS THAT MEANS THERE CAN STILL BE A WILDFIRE IN THE AREA THE SAME DAY IT RAINS.
Mike Gallagher – Fire Ecologist, US Forest Service
We can look in the road here, all the sand and cobbles weren’t put here to make the road. This is the natural underlying foundation that everything is growing out of and so there’s, we’re looking at rocks and pebbles and looks like beach sand almost. And so that doesn’t hold any, any moisture or not for very long, you know, hold a little bit, but it dries out, it’s got big pore space between all the particles, a lot more than, like, a heavy, organic soil. The soil doesn’t hold a lot of organic matter, either, so there’s no real hope of ever developing a, you know, a really thick, you know, better soil. That was something, you know, going back to the Pine Barrens, the settlers could never get it to really grow their crops, they never could really improve their soil that much for the things that they wanted to grow.
Jordan Gass-Poore’ – Host
THIS ENVIRONMENT HAS SHAPED INDUSTRY… CULTURE… AND IN THESE PARTS… LEGEND.
LONG AGO… A WOMAN NAMED MRS. LEEDS WAS IN LABOR WITH HER 13TH CHILD.
SHE CRIED OUT IN AGONY… OH… LET THIS ONE BE THE DEVIL.
HER WISH CAME TRUE. THE CHILD RELEASED A HORRIFYING SCREECH… UNFURLED ITS WINGS… AND FLEW OUT OF THE HOUSE THROUGH THE CHIMNEY.
THAT NIGHT… THE JERSEY DEVIL WAS BORN.
OR… SO THE STORY GOES.
BACK IN THE PINELANDS OF THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY… THE ONLY DEMONIC THING I SPOTTED WAS WHAT APPEARED TO BE A SNUGGIE SOMEONE DISCARDED WITH BROKEN T-VS AND OTHER TRASH ALONG THE SIDE OF THE ROAD.
THIS PART OF THE PINELANDS ISN’T A LANDFILL LIKE THE EMMELL’S SUPERFUND SITE WAS… DESPITE GARAGE SALE-STYLE ILLEGAL DUMPING.
BUT MIKE SAYS THE PRESCRIBED BURNING GOING ON HERE WILL HELP SIMILAR SUPERFUND SITES LIKE EMMELL’S THAT ARE CONTAMINATED WITH HEAVY METALS.
Mike Gallagher – Fire Ecologist, US Forest Service
Some species of plants can actually bring up heavy metals that were otherwise in the soil, but were relatively immobile, not going anywhere. Some early woody colonizers, of heavily disturbed areas can, will naturally want to start seeding in in certain types of scenarios and start growing, and they can take up these heavy metals, and then they’ll get into their foliage and into their wood, and as the plant loses parts, naturally, leaves and twigs and things, it’s starting to bring heavy metals up back into into the system, on the top, where then they can run off with rain or blow around and dust. And so one strategy that’s been proposed is to actually use some prescribed fire in Superfund sites like that to actually control the species that would start moving the contamination around. And so the goal for some places might not be to restore it back to a forest because that might be counterproductive for the hazardous part. And so maybe maintaining it as a grassland or something like that with species of plants that aren’t going to move the contamination around but still provide ecological opportunity for wildlife and recreation can be good.
