Fast-Moving Wildfire Forces Evacuations In New Jersey, Shuts Down Part Of Garden State Parkway
As many as 3,000 people were forced to evacuate their neighborhoods Tuesday as a wildfire threatened homes in New Jersey and shut down part of the Garden State Parkway.
The Jones Road Wildfire started around noon EDT Tuesday in the Greenwood Forest Wildlife Management Area in Ocean County. By Tuesday night, it had consumed more than 13 square miles and was threatening more than 1,300 structures in the Ocean and Lacey townships, according to the New Jersey Fire Service.
(MORE: Drone Video Captures Widespread Flooding In New Orleans)
Wednesday morning, all evacuation orders were lifted for Lacey Township, the city's police department announced.
At the height of Tuesday evening's rush hour, the fire shut down a stretch of the Garden State Parkway between the Barnegat and Lacey townships, creating traffic gridlock as residents tried to evacuate. Several other roads in the area were also shut down.
Two high schools were being used as evacuation shelters and evacuation orders remained in place early Wednesday.
(MORE: Don't Get Used To Those Warmer Temperatures Just Yet)
Jersey Central Power And Light shut off electricity to about 25,000 customers, saying on X that it was at the request of the Forest Fire Service, for the safety of crews battling the fire.
There were no immediate reports of injuries. As of Wednesday morning, the fire was about 10% contained. There's no word yet on the cause of the fire, but parts of South Jersey are in moderate to severe drought. It's expected to stay dry for the next couple of days, no rain is in the forecast until Friday when a cold front will bring some showers Friday night into Saturday.
This is a developing story; continue to check back here for updates.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
29-04-2025
- Yahoo
The New Jersey fire signals a new era for the Northeast
The Jones Road Wildfire, which started Tuesday in the Pine Barrens of New Jersey, is on track to become the worst in state history. Fueled by gusty winds, low humidity, and dry undergrowth — conditions increasingly common in the region — the blaze has scorched more than 23 square miles, forced thousands to evacuate, and threatened nuclear waste at a power plant. As of Monday, firefighters had contained just 45 percent of the inferno. It follows an unprecedented wildfire season in the Northeast, which saw the Hudson Valley and Catskills burn last fall, and a record number of blazes in the five boroughs of New York City. It's a stark reminder that conflagrations are not confined to the West, said Aaron Weiskittel, director of the Center for Research on Sustainable Forests at the University of Maine. 'If you've got fuel, there's a potential for a fire,' he said. Though many people don't consider it a common hazard, 'there's no reason that what has happened in the western U.S. can't happen here.' Despite the growing threat, communities find themselves increasingly unprepared as more people move to vulnerable areas and the federal government slashes funding and eliminates jobs. Last week, internal emails obtained by Grist reveal that the Interior Department is planning further staffing cuts. Forest density, Weiskittel explained, is a major driver of mounting fire danger. For decades, aggressive suppression policies allowed vegetation to accumulate along the eastern seaboard, increasing the threat of more intense and unpredictable blazes. Historically, New England saw periodic, low-intensity burns — many set by Indigenous communities to manage the landscape and promote biodiversity. But for the last half-century, state and federal agencies stifled traditional fire patterns, creating a landscape all but destined to burn. This year's tinderbox conditions heightened the risk: According to the U.S. Drought Monitor, large swaths of New Jersey have been experiencing drought for nearly a year, with March and April bringing less than half their typical rainfall. The parched spring has prevented prescribed burns, said Michael R. Gallagher, a research ecologist with the U.S. Forest Service's Northern Research Station. 'The conditions are primed for catastrophic fire,' he said. Police have arrested a 19-year-old man they believe started the New Jersey fire when failed to properly extinguish a bonfire. But climate change exacerbated the factors that propelled the flames by providing ample fuel and dry conditions. As temperatures rise, predictions of wetter weather in the northeast have been coming true; however, it's arriving primarily as intense storms, interspersed with longer, drier periods and warmer temperatures. 'That's exactly what you need for fire,' said Lisa Doner, a paleoclimatologist at Plymouth State University. Despite enjoying a reasonable amount of snow this year, New Hampshire has seen little rain this spring, stressing the forests. Doner's research strives to understand what might happen as New England's trees fall out of equilibrium with local temperatures. She does this by looking back at fires during geologic eras when the climate warmed. She's analyzing sediments at sites around New Hampshire which provide continuous ecological records going back nearly 13,000 years. She and her colleagues have found a notable spike in charcoal dating to the peak of the last naturally warm phase, in the post-glacial Holocene era around 7,000 years ago. Preliminary data suggests that the 'last time things got really warm and dry, New England had widespread fires,' Doner said. Read Next Wildfires are coming to the Southeast. Can landowners mitigate the risk in time? Kate Morgan Because of how long trees live, forests tend to be resilient even when conditions move beyond species' optimal conditions — until a major disturbance like a fire. Doner is working with the U.S. Forest Service to study whether the region's forests will be able to return to their prior state after major blazes. 'We are entering into a regime of climate that is unprecedented in recent times, and we don't really know how our forests are going to respond,' Doner said. While climate change is one driver of fire risk, it's not the only one. An extensive outbreak of spruce budworm, an insect native to New England, is killing trees. 'I call them standing matchsticks,' Doner said. Meanwhile, invasive pests like the emerald ash borer and the hemlock woolly adelgid are creeping north as winters grow more mild. 'There's a multidimensional threat from a variety of pests,' Weiskittel said. Despite the growing danger, people continue to move into fire-prone areas known as the wildland-urban interface, where development meets forests. Of the 50 states, New Hampshire has the most people living in these zones, with many homes surrounded by dense tree cover. To make things worse, much of the region relies on small, volunteer fire departments. 'We just don't have that infrastructure, that knowledge,' said Weiskittel. Last year, Art Perryman, a New York State forest ranger director, told the state legislature that its firefighters were woefully unprepared. 'We do not currently have the resources and support that we need to adequately address that mission,' he testified. Federal cuts will only deepen this crisis, preventing the timely detection or response to fires once they start. The U.S. Interior Department plans to continue eliminating jobs. Last week, the agency told its roughly 70,000 employees to submit information that would help superiors evaluate their work, according to emails Grist received from one federal firefighter. Fire crews will be impacted even without cuts to their teams, this person said, because they rely on support from others for things like food, logistical support, and technical expertise. 'You can't just call people off the streets to fight fire,' Weiskittel said. 'It takes specialized equipment, and specialized operators to run them.' In states like California, education campaigns and financial incentives have made it easier for homeowners to learn and implement risk reduction strategies, like replacing shingled roofs and removing vegetation near structures. But many hard-learned lessons, from comprehensive evacuation plans to hazardous material protections, aren't yet common across the Northeast. Some experts are focusing on proactive solutions: Gallagher, for example, has been developing tools that help the region's forest managers reduce fire risk by identifying areas where fuels can be removed. By combining a type of laser called LiDAR with new fire behavior simulation tools, he and others are making it easier to map vegetation structure at finer scales and simulate how fires might behave. In practice, this could help target prescribed burns and make setting them safer and easier, even for people with less fire experience. 'Risk isn't just about weather and fuels, but about the vulnerability of a population,' he says. But that vulnerability, experts noted, is shaped as much by policy choices as by environmental or technical considerations. 'It's more a societal issue than a biological issue,' Weiskittel said. Cutting grants because they use the word 'climate' certainly won't help, he adds, as federal budget cuts reduce towns' ability to respond to unusual or unexpected circumstances. 'We know how to manage forests to increase productivity and improve resilience. It just costs money to implement.' This story was originally published by Grist with the headline The New Jersey fire signals a new era for the Northeast on Apr 29, 2025.
Yahoo
27-04-2025
- Yahoo
New Jersey wildfire: Strong winds complicate firefighters' efforts
Firefighters continue to battle a wildfire in New Jersey that has burned over 15,000 acres, with strong winds on Sunday complicating their efforts, officials said. The Jones Road Wildfire, located in Ocean County, has burned 15,300 acres and is only 65% contained as of Sunday, according to the New Jersey Forest Fire Service. The National Weather Service issued an "increased risk of rapid fire spread" for Sunday afternoon for portions of southern New Jersey. Minimum humidity values will be around 30% to 35%, combined with "northwest winds 15 to 20 mph with 30 to 40 mph gusts." Officials said these windy conditions are complicating the containment process for this wildfire, with the gusts causing already-burned trees to fall throughout the woods, creating serious hazards. "The NJ State Forest Fire Service is again requesting for folks to stay out of the woods that were affected," the Lacey Township Police Department said in a statement on Sunday. "It's a dangerous combination of fire and wind." Firefighter operations will continue for the "next several days" due to these powerful winds, officials said. MORE: New Jersey wildfire explodes to 13,250 acres, could be largest in nearly 20 years The NWS said the wind should "diminish fairly rapidly by early this evening." The New Jersey State Forest Service is urging the public to avoid fire-affected wooded areas, warning of dangerous conditions. The NWS also said outdoor burning is "strongly discouraged" during this time. Trace amounts of rain fell over the southern portion of the fire on Saturday, and precipitation that "varied in amount" hit the northern section of the flames. Crews are "currently mopping up hotspots and patrolling the fire perimeter," the forest fire service said. So far, one commercial building and multiple outbuildings and vehicles were destroyed by flames, with a complete damage assessment underway, officials said. Officials said they will provide more updates on the fire's containment on Monday afternoon. The Jones Road Wildfire was first spotted at approximately 9:45 a.m. on April 22 in the Greenwood Wildlife Management area in Waretown, New Jersey, officials said. A 19-year-old man, Joseph Kling of Waretown, was arrested on suspicion of starting the fire and charged with second-degree aggravated arson for allegedly purposely destroying a forest; and third-degree arson for allegedly recklessly endangering buildings or structures, New Jersey officials announced on Thursday. MORE: Teen charged with allegedly starting massive New Jersey wildfire Kling was arrested after investigators determined the fire to be "incendiary by an improperly extinguished bonfire," officials said. The origin of the fire, according to investigators, is near the Waretown address the Kling listed as his home. During his first court appearance on Thursday afternoon, Kling did not enter a plea to the charges. A detention hearing is scheduled for Tuesday. -ABC News' Jason Volack and Bill Hutchinson contributed to this report. New Jersey wildfire: Strong winds complicate firefighters' efforts originally appeared on
New York Times
24-04-2025
- New York Times
Smoke From New Jersey Wildfire Could Blanket New York City
Much of the New York City region was under an air quality advisory on Thursday morning as smoke from one of New Jersey's largest wildfires in two decades made its way north. The fire, which has been burning in Ocean County since Tuesday morning, has grown to 13,250 acres, mostly in the heavily forested Pine Barrens. Earlier this week the fire forced officials to shut down the Garden State Parkway miles and prompted the temporary evacuation of thousands of people in Ocean and Lacey Townships, the state's Forest Fire Service said. Smoke from the fires spread over a large portion of New Jersey on Tuesday and Wednesday, prompting warnings about the air quality and at times irritating peoples' eyes and making it difficult to breathe. By Thursday, the smoke had spread to the north, prompting an air quality health advisory that was in effect through the end of the day for New York City, as well as Bronx, Kings, Queens, Richmond, Nassau, Suffolk, Westchester and Rockland Counties. The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation warned that the air quality index, a measure of pollutants, was likely to reach above 100, which means the air is unhealthy for sensitive groups like very young people or those with asthma or other respiratory problems. By 5 a.m., the air quality index for the New York City region had reached 83, while Long Island was at 33. Newark was at 80 and Philadelphia at 77. Southwesterly winds on Thursday afternoon were expected to spread the wildfire smoke toward Long Island. 'New York and Long Island, especially Long Island and the boroughs in New York are most at risk today,' said Brian Hurley, a meteorologist with the Weather Prediction Center. 'Also southern parts of upstate New York, south of Albany and southern Poughkeepsie, but it's really confined to the metro region.' By Friday the smoke is expected to thin and clear, as stronger winds develop and rain spreads to the region later in the day. There have been no injuries and no homes were damaged as the fire has spread west through the mostly forested area of the Pine Barrens, part of a containment strategy meant to protect homes closer to the coast. On Wednesday, the authorities said they expected the fire to grow even as efforts to contain it gained ground. Fire authorities said the blaze may become one of the largest wildfires in the state since 2007, when a flare dropped by an F-16 fighter jet ignited a fire that ultimately consumed 17,000 acres. The cause of this fire is still under investigation. Much of the state was at elevated risk for wildfires this week, and by Wednesday the entire state was under a 'high' rating, the middle point of a five-point scale that the state uses. Fuel like dry grass that would help any fire spread more easily has been especially dry, as the southern part of the state remains in drought conditions. Rain toward the end of the week is expected to give firefighters a helping hand in bringing the fire more under control. 'There's going to be slight chance of rain later Friday and into Saturday,' Mr. Hurley said. 'Saturday is going to be the day with the best chance of rain. So that will definitely help.'
