What to Know
- A forest fire in a Philadelphia suburb is threatening homes Thursday in what officials call the driest conditions in nearly 120 years.
- The new fire was threatening at least 50 homes. Its size could not immediately be calculated.
- The New Jersey Forest Fire Service says another fire about an hour away in Jackson Township was less than half contained when the blaze broke out in Evesham.
White smoke could be seen rising into the dry air as a wildfire burned in Burlington County, New Jersey, Thursday.
The New Jersey forest Fire Service first reported the blaze in the area of Kettle Run Road and Sycamore Avenue in Marlton around 10 a.m. on Nov. 7, 2024.
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The multi-acre blaze was burning uncontained as it threated around 50 structures in the Evesham Township area, the forest fire service said, while warning people to avoid the area. Fire trucks could be seen near houses.
Evesham Fire-Rescue said that some nearby houses on the west side of Sycamore Avenue need to be evacuated.
"The Forest Fire Service has responded with fire engines, bulldozers and ground crews," the agency said in a social media post.
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The cause of the fire remained under investigation and officials are expected to give an update.
Dry conditions fueling wildfires in New Jersey
Dry conditions have helped spark many wildfires in New Jersey in recent weeks. Lack of significant rainfall since August contributed to the dry conditions, which prompted the state to impose strict restrictions on outdoor fires.
The state has not seen significant rain in over a month, and that trend was expected to continue for at least the next few days.
“This is the driest we've been in the agency's history,” said Jeremy Webber, a supervising fire warden with the Fire Service, which was established in 1906.
This latest fire came as crews continue to battle a blaze in Jackson.
Since January, there have been at least 1,189 fires over 7,900 acres, Webber said at a Thursday morning news conference. Just this month, at least 102 fires have broken out statewide.
Webber said forest fire crews are busy and stretched to suppress the blazes.
Not even some promised rain Sunday night into Monday was expected to make much of a difference, Webber said.
“We're going to need inches of rain, not just one or two,” he said.
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