Evacuations Lifted, Thick Smoke Seen From 'Shotgun' Wildfire In Ocean

Crime & Safety

Evacuations Lifted, Thick Smoke Seen From 'Shotgun' Wildfire In Ocean The fire in Jackson Township was sending thick smoke across Ocean County and parts of Monmouth and Burlington counties.

JACKSON, NJ — Thick smoke was being seen and smelled across three counties Thursday morning as a wildfire continues to burn in Jackson Township.

The Shotgun Wildfire had consumed about 175 acres as of an 8:30 p.m. news conference Wednesday at the Cassville Fire Company in Jackson, said Deale Carey, the New Jersey Forest Fire Service's incident commander.

The "Shotgun" name comes from the fire's proximity to the Central Jersey Rifle and Pistol Club, on the west side of South Stump Tavern Road.

There had been 25 structures threatened, including evacuations of multiple homes, when the fire off South Stump Tavern Road first was seen at 12:17 p.m. Wednesday, but those evacuations were lifted as of 9 p.m . Wednesday, Carey said.

South Stump Tavern Road remains closed in the area; the fire was burning west of the road and had been prevented from crossing to the east side, which had been one of the service's goals, Carey said. Six homes on the west side of the road had been subject to mandatory evacuations and Carey said the forest fire service used bulldozers and a burn ring to protect them.

Carey said the service was working to have the fire completely contained by Thursday morning, and they estimated it would end up at about 300 acres consumed. A 10:30 a.m. news conference on Thursday was scheduled with the latest updates.

The smoke will continue to be thick in the area for a while, because the area burning west of South Stump Tavern Road has not been touched by a fire since 1963, Carey said.

Police departments in multiple towns and the Ocean County Sheriff's Office were posting notifications on social media about the smoke, telling residents not to be alarmed by the smoke and that the fire is not in their towns.

"No fires in Brick," Brick police said in an alert.

"There is no fire in the Point Pleasant area," Point Pleasant police said.

Carey and Bill Donnelly, chief of the New Jersey Forest Fire Service, on Wednesday night said there have been controlled burns conducted on either side of the area that is currently on fire, but this particular piece of the Colliers Mills Wildlife Management Area had not been addressed.

The fire is more than 5 miles away from Six Flags Great Adventure, so the park was not expected to be threatened, but smoke can be smelled throughout the area.

Donnelly said the cause of the fire remains under investigation, but said anything could set off a fire right now because of the extremely dry conditions. The warm weather over the last few days increases that risk, because moisture levels are so low.

"Running lawnmowers, discarding fireplace ashes, anything could spark a fire," Donnelly said.

"People need to be extra careful," he said. The forest fire service has responded to more than 200 fires in the last two weeks, and had responded to about that same number in the two weeks before that.

"Our guys have been going nonstop for about five weeks now," Donnelly said. The forest fire service has both full-time and part-time firefighters, but the relentless nature of the fires is taking a toll.

"Some of these guys get home to take a break, and 20 minutes later they're called out to another fire," Donnelly said, referring to the fire wardens who are responsible for being the first eyes at fires in their assigned areas.

There has been no measurable rain in Ocean County since September, and only a half-inch fell then. Donnelly said rain that is in the forecast over the next few days likely will not be sufficient to help reduce the risk.

"Anything that falls now will dry quickly because it's so warm," he said. "We need two or three days of soaking rain."

Carey said the 1963 fire happened over a weekend in August and was devastating.

"They call it 'Black Sunday,' " Carey said, because seven people were killed in the fire, which burned 183,000 acres and destroyed half of Jackson Township.

There have been no injuries reported in the Shotgun Wildfire.