UPDATE: N.J. forest fire fully contained at 315 acres in Pinelands
The wildfire in Brendan T. Byrne State Forest in Ocean and Burlington counties has grown to at least 300 acres, but firefighters made “substantial progress” and now have the blaze 50% contained, officials said late Sunday.
In addition, seven structures previously considered threatened by the forest fire in Manchester and Woodland townships are no longer in danger, the state Forest Fire Service.
“Earlier this evening Forest Fire Service crews conducted a backfiring operation to aide in containment,” the Forest Fire Service said in a social media update just before midnight. “No structures are threatened. No injuries have been reported. The fire’s cause remains under investigation.”
Backfiring is a method used by firefighters to set small contained fires in the path of a wildfire to consume potential fuel and create a boundary to contain the spread.
The wildfire has been named the Brickworks Fire, apparently after an abandoned brick factory on Pasadena Road.
The fire was reported at about 3 p.m. Sunday and quickly jumped to 120 acres.
Last week, a major forest fire ravaged over 13,000 acres in the Wharton State Forest further south in the Pinelands. The blaze, dubbed the Mullica River Wildfire, is the 17th largest forest fire on record in the Garden State.
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