As New Jersey remains under a statewide “very high” fire risk warning due to dry weather conditions, state and township crews from across Morris County wrangled a large brush fire in the Drew Forest on Saturday, Oct. 26, as well as an electrical fire at the University’s tennis courts the night of Oct. 27. The two blazes were unrelated according to University President Hilary Link, and luckily no injuries were reported. However, concerns have been raised by students over the apparent lack of urgency with which the Drew community was alerted to the fires.
The brush fire in the forest started early on Saturday, in an area of the University Forest near the Zuck Arboretum. It was spotted by New Jersey’s Forest Fire Service from Denville’s Greystone Lookout Tower—luckily, the fire crews “were able to contain the fire before it spread to the [forest] canopy,” said Link in an email to the community Monday morning. However, officials still advised students to “avoid Loantaka Way and any parts of the Forest and Arboretum” in an Instagram post and an SMS blast to Madison residents.
Link also highlighted the continued statewide fire advisory, referencing the “190-acre fire still burning only a few miles away in Livingston and another 80-acre fire in Rockaway Township late last week.” She also stated that “[University officials] work very closely with the Madison Fire Department to ensure that we are in full compliance with regulations…everyone plays a role in keeping our campus and community safe from fires.”
The fire at the tennis courts was first reported late Sunday night around 11:45 p.m. through “multiple 9-1-1 calls report[ing] a fire on the grounds of Drew University,” according to Borough of Madison spokesperson Michael Pellessier. As the fire began to spread, student onlookers gathered in and around the Simon Forum, watching the blaze as it grew larger. The flames “consumed the entire tennis court structure,” Pellessier stated in an email to Madison residents, but “thanks to the swift and coordinated efforts of the first responders, the fire was contained to the immediate area and did not spread to the adjacent Drew Forest Preserve.” The blaze was put out within about an hour and was later determined to be electrical in nature, said Link. Pellessier expressed gratitude for the assistance received from “mutual aid teams…including support from Florham Park, Chatham Borough, Chatham Township, Morristown, Morris Township, and East Hanover.”
While Link emphasised that the two fires were “unrelated” and that “neither fire posed a threat…to campus residents or buildings beyond the gazebo [at the tennis courts]”, many students have raised concerns about the apparent lack of any LiveSafe or email alerts having been issued, or indeed any alerts whatsoever beyond an Instagram post and a text from Madison’s automated municipal system (which must be signed up for manually) — both about the Forest blaze. Notably, no alert about the tennis courts at all was issued by any agency in or outside of Drew until late Monday morning, several hours after the fact.
Students felt that despite the fires not necessarily posing an immediate danger to student safety, at the very least a LiveSafe alert or an email blast should have been sent out by University officials with the information from the Instagram post, as well as info about the tennis court fire.
Elliot Franklyn (‘25), one of the commenters on the Instagram post, said that he “just thought they [Campus Safety] should send an email instead of posting on Instagram…because not everyone has Instagram or would have notifications on for their posts,” adding that he received a text from his parents about it “before [he] even knew anything.” Franklyn reasoned that “it just seemed like they already had a statement for the post, why would they not just email their students about it?”
Dee Cohen (‘26) highlighted concerns about climate change and fire spread as well, commenting that “I just worry about the day it’s not a brush or court, but a bush near a residence hall.” Cohen added that they “fear this may be a nightly thing if it doesn’t rain soon.”
As climate change begins to warm the planet at increasingly dramatic levels, droughts are becoming more and more frequent, with extreme weather conditions wreaking havoc in many regions worldwide. According to the U.S.’s National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration, dry conditions of D3 and D4 (the driest on the NOAA’s scale) are currently affecting massive swaths of South America, Eastern Europe and much of Central and Southern Africa.
With temperatures dropping statewide and rain nowhere in sight, concerns of further dangerous effects continue to grow — especially as other fires continue to rage throughout New Jersey and other regions. Drew’s Forest is a haven for many endangered plant and animal species, and with the continual looming threat of its destruction by flames, it remains to be seen what further steps the University may take (if any) to ensure the safety and protection of its wildlife, community, staff and students.
The Acorn would like to extend its gratitude to Madison Fire, Madison Police, Madison Borough and all other teams who assisted in putting out both on-campus fires; and sincerely thanks the first responders on scene for their quick action and dedication to keeping the community safe and unharmed.
Sabr Keres-Siddiqui is a sophomore majoring in sociology, minoring in journalism/journalistic advocacy.
Featured image courtesy of Gianna T.
