Jones Road Wildfire in Ocean County, N.J. burns through 12,000 acres
Source: CBS News
Updated on: April 23, 2025 / 1:29 PM EDT
The Jones Road Wildfire in Ocean County, New Jersey is approximately 35% contained after burning through 12,000 acres, according to the latest update from the New Jersey Forest Fire Service.
"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."
Lacey Township Mayor Peter Curatolo said a business called Liberty Garage Door & Awning was destroyed in an industrial area, but so far no injuries have been reported. "Not one single single-family home was damaged, not one person was injured, there has not been one loss of life," said Curatolo, thanking fellow officials and first responders.
The fire service commissioner said he expects the acreage to grow as they work toward containment, saying, "this could very well end up being the largest wildfire in New Jersey in 20 years."
Read more: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/nj-wildfire-ocean-county-barnegat-lacey/
A lot of S. Jersey is Pitch Pines (many are part of the Pine Barrens). They thrive in the acid dry sandy soil there. This fire is right near the ocean and not far from Barnegat (and is about 60 miles east of Philly), but the weather pattern hasn't availed the area with much of a marine layer to help knock some of it down.
Jones Road fire map in New Jersey
CBS Philadelphia
This area has been very dry although the past month or so, the Philly metro area has gotten some rain. But over the long term, we are still in a drought to different degrees -
?v=edaea84d9f9990d3a4d8ddf0e6fb4e98
Drought monitor for area around the Jones Road Fire
CBS Philadelphia