The Jones Road Wildfire in Ocean County, New Jersey is approximately 35% contained after burning through 12,000 acres, according to the latest update from the state Forest Fire Service.
“Thanks to the incredible, heroic work of the good men and women of our New Jersey Forest Fire Service, folks’ homes and lives have been saved, and we’ve truly averted a major disaster,” New Jersey Forest Fire Service Commissioner Shawn LaTourettesaid Wednesday morning. “This wildfire is not under full and complete control, we still have a lot of work to do to achieve complete containment of the wildfire. But there were 1,300 homes that were threatened during the course of fighting this fire.”
Lacey Township Mayor Peter Curatolo said a business called Liberty Garage Door & Awning was destroyed in an industrial area, but so far no injuries have been reported.
“Not one single-family home was damaged, not one person was injured, there has not been one loss of life,” said Curatolo, who thanked fellow officials and first responders.
The fire service commissioner said he expects the acreage to grow as they work toward containment, saying, “This could very well end up being the largest wildfire in New Jersey in 20 years.”
“As we continue to get this under full control, the expectation is that that number of acres will grow — and grow in a place that is unpopulated, that is more open wilderness. But in order to fully contain the fire, more burnout operations are necessary, and that will likely increase the overall acreage,” LaTourette said.
The New Jersey Forest Fire Service plans to provide another update around 4 p.m. We will bring that to you live on CBS News New York.
Smoke a concern as NYC issues Air Quality Health Advisory
Forecast maps show the smoke that is now billowing across South Jersey could also blow into the New York City area in the coming days. New York City has issued an Air Quality Health Advisory for Thursday.
“Based on the weather that we’re dealing with right now — humidity’s down, we’ve got these breezes, temperatures are up — I do believe this fire is going to continue to burn, especially in some of the low areas, probably until we get some precipitation,” said New Jersey Forest Fire Service Chief Bill Donnelly. “So based on the forecast, it looks like Friday night into Saturday, which realistically is only a couple days away. If that does in fact hold true, I tend to believe that we should have this fire contained by the weekend.”
New Jersey Acting Gov. Tahesha Way declared a state of emergency for Ocean County, which took effect at 7 a.m. Wednesday.
“Yesterday, our State Forest Fire Service informed us of a wildfire in Ocean Township, Ocean County. Due to its accelerated growth, with an estimated burn of 8,500 acres, threatening more than 1,000 structures, requiring the evacuation of residents in the area, and the loss of power to over 25,000 residents, I am declaring a State of Emergency for Ocean County,” Way said in a statement. “I encourage all residents in the County to continue to monitor the proper channels, and to use caution and follow all safety protocols.”
Mandatory and voluntary evacuations for some 5,000 residents in Ocean and Lacey townships were lifted early Wednesday morning, and the Garden State Parkway and Route 9 also reopened.
“Going forward, what’s our plan? Our plan is to get people back home, get roads reopened and knock that smoke down,” said Trevor Raynor, with the New Jersey Forest Fire Service. “So we’re going to do that through mop up and patrol. We’ve got approximately 100 firefighters on the fire line today, and they’re out there working really hard, squirting water along the parkway so there’s no smoke on that morning commute or evening commute.
“They’re putting out stumps and logs around homes so that there’s no smoke, and they can open their windows, and their homes are safe and they feel safe,” he continued. “We understand that evacuations are very disruptive, we’d like to thank the public for being understanding and patient with us.”
JCP&L expects to restore Lacey power Wednesday afternoon
Jersey Central Power & Light turned off power to roughly 25,000 homes and businesses Tuesday evening to protect firefighters as they battled the flames.
“That includes pretty much all of our customers in Barnegat and Ocean townships, as well as about three quarters of our customers in Lacey,” one JCP&L official said Wednesday. “This morning, we were cleared to begin our damage assessments. Our crews have been out since early this morning surveying our lines, checking our poles, our wires, our devices to see what can handle power, what damage there is. And we will begin the restoration process as those surveys are completed.”
JCP&L expects to restore power to approximately 6,700 customers in Lacey by Wednesday afternoon, though the timetable remains to be seen for the other townships.
In the meantime, the Red Cross has set up shelters at Southern Regional High School in Manahawkin and Manchester Township High School in Manchester.
The Lacey Township mayor said he also opened a makeshift shelter after learning a senior center was inside the mandatory evacuation zone, but the shelter had no power, nurses or emergency supplies. He was eventually able to load the seniors onto a bus and take them to the Manchester location instead.
N.J. fire officials point to ongoing dry conditions
The massive, rapidly growing wildfire started around 10 a.m. Tuesday in the Greenwood Forest Wildlife Management Area of Barnegat Township. It forced the evacuation of thousands of residents and shut down several major roads.
“The wildfire was about 10 to 20 acres upon arrival. We had resources there quickly, we dispatched aircraft. Even with a big show of force to contain this fire, it grew to be a large wildfire,” Raynor explained Wednesday.
He said April 20 is considered the peak of spring fire season.
“We’re right at the peak, it doesn’t get any worse than this date in history in New Jersey. So that, coupled with the drought, coupled with the low humidity, winds, nice sunny weather, it just made for a difficult fire fight,” he said.
The fire service says the state saw 310 wildfires this time last year, compared to 662 during the same period this year.
“As many folks here know, we’ve been under continuing dry conditions, particularly in the southern part of the state, and those dry conditions have very much influenced this fire,” said LaTourette.
He said the drought conditions are “deeply serious,” particularly in the southern half of the state.
“That is likely to persist for months ahead,” he said. “The recent rains have been welcome, they’ve helped restore some reservoir and stream flows that we need for drinking water, but it hasn’t solved for the dryness that has characterized this area and worsened in recent years.”
Officials also said a 17,000-acre wildfire broke out in the same area back in 2007, as the result of a military exercise. The cause of this fire remains under investigation.
JCP&L encourages customers to monitor its website for the latest.
