Updated 10 p.m.
EVESHAM, N.J. (KYW Newsradio) — The 300-acre large wildfire that’s burning in Burlington and Camden counties is now 50% contained, according to New Jersey fire officials. Evacuations have been lifted, but 104 homes are still potentially threatened. And fire crews will continue to monitor the blaze overnight and through another dry Friday.
Since around 9 a.m. Thursday, state and local fire officials have been working on containing the wildfire in Evesham Township and Voorhees. But they also have eyes and crews on a 350-acre wildfire in Jackson Township, Ocean County, and another blaze that’s about 133 acres in Gloucester County.
“All of the fires that we have now we are content with where they stand. They all have containment lines around them and crews are continuing to just patrol the area, mop them up, and keep the fire within the perimeter,” said Chief of New Jersey Forest Fire Service Bill Donnelly.
The large fire produced a lot of smoke that blanketed nearby neighborhoods and homes as the sun went down.
Officials said that the wildfire in Jackson Township was about 60% contained and the fire in Gloucester County is about 35% contained, as of 8:30 Thursday night.
Trevor Raynor, an assistant division forest fire warden, said the burnout operations they did on Thursday were a big help.
“A burnout is using fire to our advantage, to burn the fuel between a fire and a natural barrier," Raynor explained.
"So we did a burnout behind the homes to protect the homes. So basically we removed the fuel of the fire near those homes so that the fire couldn't get to those houses.”
As they strengthen and monitor those containment lines overnight, the plan is for fire crews to make more progress in the morning.
The causes of all three fires remain under investigation.
Dry conditions have helped spark many wildfires in New Jersey in recent weeks. Since Nov. 1 the state has seen 102 forest or wildfires that burned less than a square mile, the fire service said. 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.
New Jersey experienced over 400 wildfires in October alone, setting a new record.