Fires blackened New Jersey's skies in a wind-whipped fury from Lebanon Township in Hunterdon County south to Egg Harbor in Atlantic County. Motorists drove with their headlights on so they could see through the smoke.
Twenty-three years ago today, seven people died in the worst series of forest fires on record in the state. More than 400 structures were destroyed and property losses topped $8.5 million. About 4 percent, or 183,000 acres, of the state's land burned that weekend as 127 fires scorched the countryside. The last of the fires were not doused until two days later.
April 20, 1963: Black Saturday.
As Saturday dawned, weather conditions hinted disaster. The area was dust-bowl dry from a severe drought that started in the fall of 1962. Rainfall had been five inches below normal since March.
It was sunny with 25 to 30 mile-per-hour winds, with gusts of 45 miles per hour. Relative humidity was 15 percent by afternoon. Temperatures reached 81 at 2 p.m., above normal for April.
The stage was set for havoc
The first fire struck Lebanon Township at 9 a.m. Then two larger fires started in Ocean County an hour later-one in Jackson Township and one in Berkeley Township.
Touched off by blueberry farmers burning debris, three fires which burned 76,000 acres in Ocean and Burlington Counties started, respectively, in Ong's Hat and Presidential Lakes in Pemberton Township, and in the County Lakes area of Browns Mills. Flames engulfed Routes 70 and 72.
Later in the afternoon, 575 acres were consumed in Medford and Evesham Townships.
Wesley Lorincz, then a Burlington City firefighter, was injured that day. He fell off a fire truck that, lost in a smoke bank, plowed into the rear of a state forest fire truck. Frank Jacoby, Burlington City's fire chief at the time, was perched on the running board. He was killed.
"I can still remember Frank Jacoby, too, because I stepped over him," said Lorincz, who now lives in Riverside.
Lorincz, a member of the Mitchell Fire Company, said he had just gotten a new car and was out shopping when he heard radio reports about a fire. "In downtown Burlington you could see the smoke," he recalled.
He went to his company's fire station. First stop was Browns Mills. "It (the fire) was moving so fast the trees were exploding," Lorincz said. "They were going off like firecrackers.
His company then tried to save a few houses in Presidential Lakes, but the fire came right at them, preventing their entrance into the area. Flames roared beneath the truck. "Everybody was huddled together on the truck," Lorincz said. "Quite a few of us got singed."
The firefighters retreated to Four-Mile Circle, where Routes 72 and 70 and New Lisbon Road intersect in Woodland Township, and went to Chatsworth. After fighting fires for 11 hours straight, Lorincz said, the weary crew was sent to Coyle Field, an airport off Route 72 in Woodland Township for firefighting planes, to protect the fuel tanks.
Night fell. Dark and smoky conditions obscured the firefighters' vision on Route 72. Trapped by intense fire, the truck barreled off to escape the flames. Then came a collision.
Burlington City's fire truck, borrowed from the state Forest Fire Service, smashed into another state fire truck and was pushed down an embankment. Jacoby was killed. About 10 men from the local department were injured.
Lorincz was knocked out and fell on his face. "I fell off the truck," he said. "There was a dent in my helmet."
State Forest Fire Warden David Harrison, who in 1963 was Division B's assistant state fire warden, said severe forest fires confuse people and cause panic, especially among those unaccustomed to the treacherous conditions.
"They (Burlington City firemen) came down not being familiar with the road and the hazardous situation, and really were going too fast for the conditions," Harrison said.
Similarly, he said, a family in Jackson Township made a fatal error. They went back home down a long narrow driveway to rescue their dog, after being ordered to leave. Three people were consumed by flames.