Jeff Goldman
nj.com(TNS)
Firefighters have made “substantial” progress Wednesday morning in their efforts to control a wildfire in Ocean County that has swelled to more than 3,800 acres, officials said.
In an update just before 10 a.m. the New Jersey Forest Fire Service says the now-3,859 acre fire is 50% contained and that everyone in Lakehurst and Manchester evacuated Tuesday evening was allowed to return home by 4 a.m. officials said at a press conference Wednesday.
Residents from 70 homes in Manchester had evacuated.
No one has been injured and no homes or businesses have been damaged, fire officials said Wednesday morning.
Twenty structures are still threatened — down from 75 on overnight and most roads that were previously shut down have re-opened. Horicon Avenue and Beckerville Road in Manchester remain closed, the forest fire service said.
“While Route 539 and Route 70 have reopened, Forest Fire Service personnel will continue working to improve containment lines along these roads,” it said in a statement.
No one has been injured and the cause of the fire remains under investigation as firefighters from the forest fire service and Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst continue to battle it. Numerous local fire companies also have aided state wildland firefighters in the effort.
The fire had grown to 2,500 acres at about 1:30 a.m.
Controlled burns or backfiring — when a fire is intentionally set along the inner edge of a fire line to consume the fuel in the path of the blaze or change its direction — was ongoing earlier Wednesday, officials said.
More warm, dry and breezy conditions are in the forecast for Wednesday, the National Weather Service said, so there’s an “elevated risk for fire spread” in all of the state’s 21 counties.
Jeff Goldman may be reached at [email protected].
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