Crews battling wildfire in Jackson Township, NJ, officials say

Officials in New Jersey have provided an update on a wildfire that is burning in Jackson Township, not far from Six Flags Great Adventure theme park.

On Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024, NJ Forest Fire Service Section Fire Warden Deale Carey told reporters that the fire, which is currently burning 350 acres across that area, has been about 60% contained.

"The biggest thing is we want to hold it," Carey said.

Stump Tavern Road is closed from Route 571 to Route 528 in Jackson Twp and six structures were threated as of 7 p.m. Thursday night.

Overnight, he said, fire crews are currently working to extinguish the flames in the Colliers Mills Wildlife Management Area in the area of South Stump Tavern Road in Jackson Township in Ocean County.

Initially, several homes were evacuated and 25 structures were threatened. However, Carey said that, as of about 11 a.m. on Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024, only six homes were "somewhat threatened" by the fire.

Wednesday night, residents were permitted back into their homes, officials said.

Joann Bertone lives near that fire, and described animal and horse owners scrambling to arrange trailers to carry them to safety.

“It was extremely scary,” she said. “I was up all night. It was nerve-wracking.”

Carey said that crews continue to work diligently to extinguish this fire as the fact that conditions are dry and there are dead leaves on the ground are causing some concern that area fire crews have already extinguished could reignite.

In fact, the conditions aren't just dry, they are historically dry, according to Jeremy Webber, a supervising forest fire warden for the state of New Jersey.

“To my knowledge, this is the driest we’ve been in the agency's history,” Webber said.

He said that, since January, fire crews across the state have addressed 1,189 fires across 7,900 acres of land. And, since the beginning of November alone, Webber said, fire crews have seen 102 fires across the state.

And, he worried, without rain, that number could increase.

“We don’t see a forecast change in the future here. It seems to be dry and windy," said Webber.

Currently, crews in New Jersey are also addressing a wildfire in the area of Kettle Run Road and Sycamore Avenue in Marlton.