Crime & Safety

Four Fires Break Out In Mahwah Over Holiday Weekend

Three of the fires, including one near the lodge at Campgaw Mountain, were brush fires caused by dry weather conditions, officials say

Four fires, three of which were considered brush fires, broke out in Mahwah over the Easter weekend, Assistant Chief Brad Stio said Sunday night. None resulted in injury or serious damage, he said.

Saturday afternoon, a brush fire broke out on the slope of the , not far from the facility’s ski lodge, Stio said. “It was about a 100-foot-wide brush fire, maybe a little more,” he said. Mahwah Companies 4 and 5, and the NJ Forest Fire Service responded to the blaze and “put it out pretty quickly,” Stio said. Though it didn’t result in serious damage, Stio said that because of the location of the fire and weather conditions, “it could have been really bad.”

Sunday afternoon after 4 p.m., a “very small brush fire,” broke out at the side of the road on Wyckoff Ave., he said. That was put out “very quickly,” and caused no damage, Stio said.

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A third brush fire sparked Sunday evening around 7 p.m., on a pile of new mulch in the parking lot of the on Corporate Drive, Stio said. “The fire was contained to the mulch, it did not affect the hotel or any other surrounding buildings,” he said.

A fourth weekend fire in the township, on the front porch of a home on Clark Ave. Saturday afternoon, is the only one that may not be classified as a brush fire, Stio said. “No one was home, and a neighbor called in the fire on the porch,” Stio said. “The home was stone, so the fire did not spread to the house.” Stio said the cause of that fire is still under investigation. Mahwah Fire Companies 1-4, and Mahwah Ambulance squads responded to the blaze.

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According to Stio, the are likely responsible for the high number of brush fires in Mahwah this weekend. “It’s extremely dry out, so these [fires] can be caused by a combination of sunlight and wind conditions, and something as simple as a piece of glass or pile of mulch that can easily catch fire,” Stio said. “Unfortunately, we are experiencing perfect fire conditions.”


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