Acting New Jersey Gov. Tahesha Way (D-NJ) has declared a state of emergency in Ocean County while a wildfire blazes through thousands of acres there.
The Jones Road Wildfire began Tuesday morning and has spanned 12,000 acres so far, prompting 5,000 people to evacuate. The fire is 35% contained as of Wednesday afternoon. One commercial building and several vehicles have been destroyed, and 20 structures are still at risk.
Way, the lieutenant governor, sent out the notice because Gov. Phil Murphy (D-NJ) is in Poland participating in the International March of the Living in remembrance of the Holocaust.
“Yesterday, our State Forest Fire Service informed us of a wildfire in Ocean Township, Ocean County,” Way said. “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. I encourage all residents in the County to continue to monitor the proper channels, and to use caution and follow all safety protocols.”
New Jersey’s forest fire chief said the state has “averted a major disaster.”
“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 LaTourette said 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.”
However, he added that “this could very well end up being the largest wildfire in New Jersey in 20 years.”
“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,” he said. The cause of the fire remains under investigation.
The wildfire was detected while it was just 10 to 20 acres in size, but it still could not be contained.
“We had resources there quickly, we dispatched aircraft,” New Jersey Forest Fire Service’s Trevor Raynor said Wednesday. “Even with a big show of force to contain this fire, it grew to be a large wildfire.”
Raynor said the plan for the coming days is to relocate people back home, reopen roads, and “knock that smoke down.”
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“So we’re going to do that through mop-up and patrol,” Raynor said. “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,” Raynor continued. “We understand that evacuations are very disruptive, we’d like to thank the public for being understanding and patient with us.”
