Roads begin to reopen as New Jersey wildfire remains half contained

Beatrice Forman, The Philadelphia Inquirer on Apr 24, 2025

By clicking submit, I authorize Arcamax and its affiliates to: (1) use, sell, and share my information for marketing purposes, including cross-context behavioral advertising, as described in our Privacy Policy , (2) add to information that I provide with other information like interests inferred from web page views, or data lawfully obtained from data brokers, such as past purchase or location data, or publicly available data, (3) contact me or enable others to contact me by email or other means with offers for different types of goods and services, and (4) retain my information while I am engaging with marketing messages that I receive and for a reasonable amount of time thereafter. I understand I can opt out at any time through an email that I receive, or by clicking here

Roads are starting to reopen as New Jersey firefighters begin their third day of containing a 13,250-acre wildfire just miles from the Jersey Shore, according to a post the state’s forest fire service posted to X Thursday morning.

Wells Mill Road in Watertown, Ocean County, had reopened just before 5 a.m. as the fire remains only 50% contained. Twelve unspecified structures are threatened, the forest fire service said, but none have needed to be evacuated. No injuries have been reported.

The blaze could become New Jersey’s largest since 2007 when a 17,000-acre wildfire burned in the same general area, New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection commissioner Shawn LaTourette told reporters at a Wednesday night news conference.

The cause of the fire is under investigation, LaTourette said, but its spread from the Greenwood Forest Wildlife Management Area to the wilderness of the Pinelands was “influenced” by drought conditions from last summer that have lingered into peak wildfire season. The weather is favorable for fires: Humidity is low, temperatures are high, and winds are steady.

Thursday is also not going to be great for fire containment efforts, according to Ray Martin, a lead meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Mount Holly. Temperatures could hit 80 degrees and humidity remains low.

“We do expect additional spread today, but no raging infernos,” said Martin. “It’s not likely the fire would break the containment” area.

More than 5,000 people in neighboring Lacey and Ocean Townships have returned to their homes after being ordered to evacuate Tuesday night. Acting Gov. Tahesha Way also declared a state of emergency in response to the fire, authorizing officials to reroute traffic, gather resources, and initiate other emergency plans.

“There’s a lot of work to do,” LaTourette told reporters. “We’ve truly averted a major disaster.”

About 1,320 buildings were threatened when the fire broke out Tuesday, but that number had dropped to 20 by Wednesday night. LaTourette said he was “hopeful” that the fire would remain away from people, “but I’m not going to tell you there’s no chance because wildfires are risky.”

Martin said that showers and thunderstorms forecast for Saturday could put a “real dent” in how far the fire spreads, but couldn’t necessarily extinguish it.

“It probably needs a really good soaking to really shut it down, and we’re not sure we’re going to get that Saturday,” said Martin. “It could smolder for weeks.”

New Jersey has had a busy wildfire season, charting 662 fires and over 16,500 acres burned. That’s 52 times more acreage burned that in 2024, New Jersey Forest Fire Service chief Bill Donnelly said, when 310 wildfires caused 315 acres worth of damage this time last year.