Weekend's High Winds Affected Fire Communications

High winds tampered with Toms River fire communications, temporarily taking out some radio service over the weekend.

Toms River Fire District No. 1 Administrator Bill Golkiewicz said final checks on Tuesday morning confirmed radio operations were completely restored. Since brief, partial outages due to high winds that began Friday night, the district has been checking radio operations to make sure nothing is amiss.

That, on top of administering voting operations for a fire election, made for a busy weekend through early Tuesday, he said.

Toms River Police Chief Michael Mastronardy said no injuries were reported in other incidents due to the high wind. Mastronardy said several trees fell on residential properties, and a brush fire was also extinguished.

The National Weather Service (NWS) in Mount Holly, which issued a high wind advisory early Saturday for much of New Jersey, including the Jersey Shore, canceled the weather bulletin at midnight Saturday.

The impact of the high winds, the initial NWS bulletin said, could cause widespread power outages, downed trees and tree limbs.  The falling trees and tree limbs could cause damage to structures and vehicles.

The NWS predicted sustained winds of 25 to 35 mph with gusts up to 60 mph.

A high wind warning means that a hazardous high wind event is expected, according to the NWS.  Sustained wind speeds of at least 40 mph or gusts of 58 mph or more can cause property damage.

The highest wind speeds and gusts occurred during the afternoon and early evening hours, according to the NWS.

Minor brush fires, fallen tree limbs, and downed wires kept police and firefighters busy much of Saturday as the storm reach its peak over the region, including Barnegat and Howell.