A massive wildfire in Ocean County that broke out on Tuesday has grown to 11,500 acres and will continue to burn for a few days — potentially making it one of the biggest wildfires New Jersey has seen in 20 years.
The fire in Greenwood Management Area, being called the “Jones Road” fire, is 30% contained after having grown rapidly since Tuesday when it was first spotted around 9:45 a.m. by a person in the Cedar Bridge fire tower, state officials said.
No one has been injured and no homes have been damaged, authorities said.
Overnight burnout operations were successful at strengthening containment lines and the fire’s forward progress has been stopped, Department of Environmental Commissioner Shawn M. LaTourette said.
“A major disaster has been averted,” LaTourette said.
Twenty structures remained threatened but evacuations on 5,000 residents in the area have been lifted, the state Forest Fire Service said. An air quality alert is in effect for Ocean, Atlantic, Cape May and southeastern Burlington counties until midnight as the fire burns in Lacey and Ocean townships.
At one point, 1,300 homes were threatened, officials said at a Wednesday morning press conference.
He said as the fire continues to burn, fueled by the state’s dry conditions, the bulk of the flames have shifted west and will continue to burn in open wilderness.
“I can see .. that the proximity to the neighborhoods east of the Parkway and east of Route 9 that there would be concern in those communities,” LaTourette said. “From an active fire management perspective, we have moved the active fire west of this residential areas.”
One commercial building was completely destroyed as the flames roared toward an industrial complex in Lacey on Tuesday night.
More than 25,000 homes and businesses remain without power on Wednesday, according to JCP&L’s online outage tracker. Power was cut, including lines that led to the closed Oyster Creek nuclear power plant to reduce any risks to firefighters, a utility company spokesman said.
In addition, a state of emergency has been declared in Ocean County due to the fire, which frees up money and resources to assist with firefighting efforts.
Officials said that if rain falls on Saturday as is forecast, the fire could be fully contained by the weekend. The cause remains under investigation but fire officials said wind and low humidity caused it to spread.
The fire grew rapidly Tuesday evening hitting 8,500 acres and 10% containment at 10:30 p.m Tuesday.
A business in Lacey that backs up to the woods was destroyed.
Wind gusts of 25 miles per hour from the northwest pushed the flames across dry areas of the pine barrens, officials from the National Weather Service said.
Some of the evacuees remained at two emergency shelters set up at Manchester Township High School and Southern Regional High School. The two shelters assisted more than 300 people overnight, according to the Red Cross.
The Garden State Parkway and Route 9, which were closed previously, have re-opened. Smoky conditions still exist in the area, though. It was unclear whether conditions would change prompting closure of the highways again. Firefighting crews were working to spray wooded areas near the edge of the parkway, officials said.
The owner of a horse farm in Barnegat had to evacuate 21 horses as flames from the wildfire closed in Tuesday.
Forest Fire Service fire engines, bulldozers and ground crews are battling the fire. The cause remains under investigation.
There have been 662 wildfires in New Jersey this year that have burned about 16,572 acres — far more than last year at this time.
Jones Wildfire
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