MANCHESTER, N.J. – A fast-moving wildfire that spread to 2,500 acres as of early Wednesday morning forced authorities to issue a mandatory evacuation order for about 170 homes and other structures, according to the state Forest Fire Service.
About 75 structures were threatened, the service said.
The Ocean County Sheriff’s Office said in an email alert and text message at 10:57 p.m. Tuesday that “all residents between Division Street and Myrtle (Street in Lakehurst) are to evacuate immediately due to a brush fire.”
The Manchester Office of Emergency Management ordered mandatory evacuations along Beckerville Road, Horicon Avenue and Horicon Drive in the Whiting section of the township because of the fire, the township said in a statement.
Evacuees were being instructed to report to Manchester Township High School.
The Forest Fire Service and the Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst Fire Department were operating Tuesday night in unified command as their firefighters battled the blaze — 10% contained early Wednesday — which they’re calling the “Jimmy’s Waterhole Fire.” The inferno is burning on U.S. military, state and private property along Route 539 and Horicon Avenue in Manchester, the state agency said.
At the Route 70 and Union Avenue traffic circle in Lakehurst, ash was raining down and conditions were smoky. From Lake Horicon, the roar of the fire could be heard across the water.
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The Forest Fire Service said that its crews had begun a backfiring operation to aid in the containment. Local volunteer fire departments in Ocean County had been deployed to safeguard the threatened structures.
April is the peak of the wildfire season in New Jersey: 99% of New Jersey wildfires are caused by people, and nine out of 10 homes destroyed in wildfires are the result of embers falling on the structures, the Forest Fire Service said.