Wildfire in Southern NJ, about 25 miles from Atlantic City

[angelwing]

South Jersey Forest Fire Scorches Thousands of Acres



by KYW's Ian Bush

The New Jersey Forest Fire Service was working Tuesday afternoon to control a major fire that started in Burlington County earlier in the day and crossed into Ocean County, closing many highways including portions of the Garden State Parkway and routes to seashore points.

Officials were quickly increasing their estimates of the number of acres destroyed -- from 2,500 acres on Tuesday afternoon, to 5,000 acres at 6pm, to 10,000 acres at 6:45pm, to 12,000 acres at 7:30pm.

And officials said thousands more acres were likely to be lost before the fire is extinguished.

Officials say the blaze is tearing through over 12,000 acres, and likely will destroy thousands more before the fire is extinguished.

Some communities were being evacuated. In Stafford Township, state police say 2,500 people were asked to leave their homes -- but it was not immediately clear how many houses are threatened.

Some ramps along the Garden State Parkway are closed, as well as part of Route 72 in Stafford Township.

A spokesperson for the New Jersey National Guard says the fire may have been started by a flare from aircraft practicing on the Warren Grove gunnery range.

Firefighters were able to protect homes in some threatened areas, including Warren Grove. They were still working to protect a mobile home community in Barnegat Township, Ocean County.

State assistant fire warden Steve Maurer says the flames were spotted just after 2pm near Bass River, Burlington County:

"The weather is not in our favor. It's been warm and windy all day long, as everyone knows. The breeze is anticipated to contine for the next several hours. And right now, they're just doing the best they can to try to catch up and slow the spread of the fire."

Maurer says it could be a while before this fire is under control:

"They will be there all night, that's a given. Hopefully, the thing does slow down -- when the sun sets, generally the wind dies down so everything is anticipating that that's going to occur."

The state forest fire service was using at least seven trucks and six aircraft to battle the blaze.

[Stephanie]

Wow! That's the first I've heard about it.

It's supposed to be windy and warm again tomorrow but we're supposed to see some storms - keeping fingers crossed!

[alicia-w]

they're now saying it was caused by a flare dropped by an F-16.

[Stephanie]

There's a large training ground there for the Air National Guard 177th Fighter Wing. I don't know if yesterday was the best day to train with flares since the winds were gusting to 30 MPH. I guess that they have to train for any circumstance.

[Category 5]

Theres a lawsuit

[alicia-w]

Theres a lawsuit

I doubt it....

[Category 5]

Theres a lawsuit

I doubt it....

Don't underestimate our sue happy society

[alicia-w]

dont underestimate the power of the military...

[angelwing]

[web]http://www.kyw1060.com/pages/466141.php?contentType=4&contentId=508115[/web]

[alicia-w]

that's pretty typical. it's usually done without a lawsuit being filed. an aircraft crashed on approach in a neighborhood off the runway at eglin a couple of years ago and totalled a couple of houses. it took them a while to complete their investigation ,but i heard they paid for the house. dont know if it was an equitable value or what.... we'll see how this one turns out. you cant ever replace everything that was lost. sad.

poor judgement in my opinion to drop flares in that kind of weather.