Wildfire Safety and Preparedness

New Jersey Forest Fire Contained in Berkeley Township; 620 Homes Evacuated

High winds pushed a New Jersey forest fire out of control Thursday, forcing a school to close and 620 homes to evacuate.

The fire started just before noon in Beachwood, according to the Asbury Park Press, and then quickly spread into Berkeley Township. Authorities said there were no injuries in the blaze.

The fire burned more than half a square mile of land, but was completely contained by late Thursday, according to Berkeley Township police. Although some homes were damaged, firefighters say none were destroyed. The Associated Press reported some residents were being allowed back into their homes by evening.

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The region is under fire weather watches and warnings. According to weather.com meteorologist Chrissy Warrilow, temperatures were in the 60s Thursday, with low humidity and wind gusts up to 30 mph feeding the flames.

Another fire, also in Berkeley Township, engulfed about a quarter of a square mile. It was only 80 percent contained by early Friday, according to Greg McLaughlin, division warden with the state Forest Fire Service.

In Franklin Township, he said a fire was still raging across more than a square mile, but none of the residents of about 60 nearby houses had been evacuated.

"April is fire month in New Jersey, and the conditions today were appropriate for a fast spreading wildfire," McLaughlin said.

Toms River Intermediate South school closed early as a precaution, and students were taken to Pine Belt Arena in Toms River. The district said they were sent home on their normal bus routes. The school was later used as a command post for officials coordinating firefighting efforts.

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Dozens of firefighters battled the blaze on the ground, supplemented by three bulldozers building walls to stop the spread of flames and several helicopters and firefighting planes dropped water on the fire.

McLaughlin said two sheds, a boat trailer and a house burned in the Toms River fire.

At the same time, firefighters battled the second day of a forest fire in Downe Township in Cumberland County, at the far southern end of the state.

That fire, in the Bevans Wildlife Management Area, was 50 percent contained by late in the day, and firefighters were hopeful it wouldn't spread any further. No homes or other buildings were in the immediate area of the fire, which had burned nearly 2 1/2 square miles.

McLaughlin said there also were small fires in the New Jersey communities of Whiting and Jackson.

Information from the Associated Press was used in this report