Ocean County wildfire grows to more than 13,250 acres; 50% contained

For photos from the fire, click here.

Here is the latest on the fire:

Thursday 

Air quality issues to continue

6:00 a.m.:  Smoke will continue to permeate the area, causing air quality to be compromised, and emergency personnel will remain on site for the next few days while efforts continue to acquire 100% containment.

Fire now 50% contained 

5:30 a.m.: Jones Road fire has now grown to 13,250 acres and is 50% contained, according to the state Forest Fire Service.

Route 532 (Wells Mills Road) has now been reopened, according to an updated at 4:45 a.m.   

WEDNESDAY 

Fire up to 13,250 acres, 50% contained

7:30 p.m.: The Ocean County forest fire has spread to 13,250 acres and is 50% contained, the New Jersey Forest Fire Service said in an update about 7 p.m. Twelve structures remain threatened. Wells Mills Road remains closed between Route 72 and the Garden State Parkway. Bryant Road remains closed between Wells Mills and Route 539. Jones Road remains closed between Wells Mills and Bryant Road.

Another update was planned for 10 p.m.

Fire now 40% contained

The fire has spread to 12,500 acres and is 40% contained, according to the Forest Fire Service.

The fire service is scheduled to give another update at 7:30 p.m. 

Comcast opens WiFi in Ocean County

4:30 p.m.: Comcast has opened 10,000 WiFi hotspots up for the residents and first responders in Ocean County to help with fire response.

18,700 people still without power

2 p.m.: Jersey Central Power & Light crews are continuing wildfire-related inspections and have begun restoring power to customers.

Additional crews from throughout the state are assisting with this process, and about 18,700 customers remain without service.

Fire could be biggest in New Jersey in 20 years

The blaze in Ocean County had burned 12,000 acres as of Wednesday afternoon and forced 5,000 people to flee their homes.

Yet only one business — a garage door and awning company in an industrial park in Lacey — was destroyed, along with several cars.

No one lost their home or was injured, authorities said.

"Thanks to the immediate, heroic work of the good men and women of our New Jersey Forest Fire Service, we truly averted a major disaster," said Shawn LaTourette, New Jersey's environmental protection commissioner. "Homes and lives have been saved."

If the blaze continues to grow, it could surpass New Jersey's largest fire in recent decades, a 2007 blaze in Ocean County touched off by National Guard bombing target practice in bone-dry conditions at a military training facility that burned 17,000 acres.

To read more, click here.

Fire impacting air quality in Atlantic County 

1 p.m.: Atlantic County air quality was listed as unhealthy for sensitive groups Wednesday and was expected to improve slightly to moderate Thursday.

N-95 masks available due to poor air quality 

12 p.m.: Ocean County Office of Emergency Management and Red Cross staff will be giving out N-95 masks to any residents who would like one due to the current poor air quality, Barnegat police said.

Masks can be picked up at the Barnegat Township Recreation Center, 900 W. Bay Ave.

The shelter at Southern Regional High School has been relocated to Saint Mary's Parish Center, 100 Bishop Ave., Manahawkin.

Power to be restored in Lacey this afternoon 

11:30 a.m.: Jersey Central Power & Light officials said the company should have all power restored to Lacey residents by this afternoon. 

Jones Road wildfire grows to 11,500 acres 

10:50 a.m.: The fire has spread to 11,500 acres and is 30% contained, according to the Forest Fire Service. There are still 20 structures threatened, according to the Forest Fire Service.

A complete damage assessment is underway, officials said, adding one commercial building and multiple outbuildings and vehicles were destroyed.

Bryant Road is still closed between Wells Mills Road and Route 539, as is Jones Road between Wells Mills Road and Bryant Road, according to the Forest Fire Service.

The cause of the fire is under investigation. 

Traffic lights running on backup power in Lacey

10:05 a.m.: Lacey Township police are asking drivers to use caution when driving through the town today.

"All of the traffic lights are currently operating on backup power and may not be as consistent as usual," police said in a statement. "Please use caution when approaching an intersection that is not controlled by traffic signals."

Power to be restored throughout the day

10 a.m.: Crews are still actively working to suppress any remaining fires, according to a statement from the Barnegat Township Police Department. 

"We want to extend a heartfelt thank you to The NJ Forest Fire Service, Barnegat Fire Department, and all surrounding fire companies for their incredible efforts throughout the night. Due to their hard work, our town remains safe from the immediate threat of fire," according to the statement. "We appreciate everyone's patience and caution on our roadways as our officers continue to direct traffic at controlled intersections." 

25,000 people remain without power

9:35 a.m.: Jersey Central Power & Light crews received clearance to begin reviewing equipment to assess for any potential damage as a result of the wildfire, according to the company. Approximately 25,000 customers remained without power.

Evacuation orders lifted 

9:30 a.m.: All evacuation orders have been lifted, according to the New Jersey Office of Emergency Management. 

BARNEGAT TOWNSHIP — A massive forest fire tearing through the New Jersey Pinelands in Ocean County nearly tripled in size Tuesday night, burning 8,500 acres, threatening 1,320 buildings and forcing 3,000 people to flee their homes.

The blaze in the Greenwood Forest Wildlife Management Area near the Ocean Township border started to move north about 6:30 p.m., touching off a new wave of evacuations and closing even more roads, including busy Route 9 and a section of the Garden State Parkway. The New Jersey Forest Fire Service said the blaze was being battled by numerous crews on land and in the air.

A State of Emergency has been declared for the area by Lt. Gov. Tahesha Way. 

As of 5:30 a.m., the parkway and Route 9 were open in both directions.

The state Department of Environmental Protection and Forest Fire Service will hold a press briefing on the fire at 11 a.m. Wednesday.

The fire was only 10% contained shortly before midnight. It had burned throughout the afternoon, but things took a turn for the worse in the evening as it began moving north into new areas, threatening thousands of homes in Lacey Township.

Fire engines and ambulances that had been deployed in Waretown and Barnegat began racing north into Lacey, and police halted traffic on Route 9, extending a mandatory evacuation order on and near the busy highway. Shelters were set up at a nearby Methodist church and at Southern Regional High School in Stafford Township.

Lacey police posted about 6:30 a.m. Wednesday that all evacuation orders were lifted, adding heavy smoke conditions remain in the area.

Jersey Central Power & Light cut power along the parkway, leading to an outage across most of Barnegat.

No injuries had been reported as of 6 p.m. Tuesday.

Debi Schaffer, of Waretown, was ordered to evacuate about 5 p.m. but agonized about leaving her 22 chickens behind.

"I wanted to take them in the car with me; can you imagine 22 chickens in a car?" she asked.

Her husband agreed to stay with the birds while Debi took her two dogs, Sadie and Sebastian, and her cat, Miss Tuffy — only to run headlong into gridlocked traffic that shut down the area for hours.

Sitting in a parking lot, trying to calm the animals, she recalled the scene near her house.

"It was like a war zone: Smoke all around my house, sirens everywhere, and all these planes and helicopters constantly flying overhead," Schaffer said.

Just then, a fellow evacuee from a Waretown housing development, Francis Reilly, appeared in the same parking lot with a bag full of Butterfinger and Nestle Crunch candy bars that he handed out to other evacuees. 

"I keep this in the car for emergencies," he said. "I figured this might help ease their stress a little."

Staci Laubauskas and her family were ordered to evacuate their home in Waretown about 7 p.m. but were holding off doing so for as long as they could.

"They said if you stay, they might not be able to come get you," she said.

For now, firefighters racing past her house on Wells Mills Road were still waving.

"When they start pointing, then I'm out," she said.

Farther down the road, Tyler Gonnella was walking his dog Tanner on the shoreline of Wells Mills Park.

"We saw a lot of smoke and ash coming down, a lot of it," he said.

"It was covering the sun, and then it just kind of took over," added his companion, Cheyenne Willey. 

Meanwhile, firefighters continued working to contain the blaze. Crews constructed new containment lines and reinforced existing ones, the Forest Fire Service said. They also performed a backfiring operation to burn fuel in advance of the main body of fire.

The Forest Fire Service deployed fire engines, bulldozers and ground crews; as well as two helicopters, one capable of dropping 300 gallons of water and one for observation; and an air tanker capable of dropping 600 gallons of water.

The parkway was closed around Exit 69. Wells Mills Road was closed between Route 72 and the parkway. Bryant Road was closed between Wells Mills Road and Route 539. Jones Road was closed between Wells Mills and Bryant roads. Route 9 was closed from north of Wells Mills Road to Lacey Road.

The site of the fire is near the Out of Sight alpaca farm. The farm said in a Facebook post the property wasn't threatened and all of the animals were safe.

It also was at least two or three miles from the former Oyster Creek nuclear power plant, where spent nuclear fuel is still stored on site.

The cause of the fire was under investigation.

This was the second major fire in the region in less than a week. A forest fire in the Peaslee Wildlife Management Area in Vineland started Friday and spread to 1,300 acres.