Watertown-One of the worst wildfires in New Jersey history may continue to burn until rain floods the area could be on Friday night or Saturday, said Bill Donnelly, head of the New Jersey Forest Fire Department.
Firefighters are making progress in the fires – as of Wednesday night, 50% of them started covering 5 acres Tuesday morning and will grow into at least 13,500 acres of pine barrels.
According to the fire department, thousands of people were evacuated from their homes, including 5,000 in Waretown and Lacey.
“New Jersey has some of the most unstable outdoor fire fuel in the country,” Donnelly explained in an afternoon press conference. “Everyone is used to seeing California and things like that, the hap that burns hills and goes crazy. These pine trees are exactly the same fuel model here. They are like letting solidification spread on the ground.”
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Although no one was injured, three buildings near Lacey Industrial Park caught fire and one was destroyed. As of Wednesday night, 12 buildings were still under threat.
Bob Nosti, owner of Liberty Door and Andning, a 39-year-old garage door and awning company in the industrial park, arrived Wednesday morning and found his business burned down.
Smoke still rose from the wooded ground in battle with the nearby Jones Road fire on Wednesday afternoon, April 23, 2025.
The fire was an afterthought for him a day ago: “Earlier that day…that were a few towns south of here, and I knew it was moving very quickly,” Nosti said.
“And then suddenly, my building left an hour later,” he said. “It's definitely painful, but we'll be fine. We'll rebuild – we'll be bigger, better.”
Jersey Central Power and Light were forced to shut down power to 25,000 customers as it fell Tuesday night. A portion of Southern Ocean County has almost apocalyptic atmosphere as a dark smog line gets closer to the densely populated neighborhoods of Banegat Bay.
Wednesday afternoon, April 23, 2025, sign outside the Fork Restaurant on Route 9, thanks to the first responders who fought the nearby Jones Road fire.
The harsh smell fills the air, and the steady sound of the sirens of the distant emergency vehicle will be a companion that lasts all night.
Motorists trying to get home from get off work during peak hours found themselves having few choices, but sat in a stalemate through pine barrels after authorities closed Garden State Park Avenue and centuries-long rear roads, connecting much of southern Ocean County to the outside world.
Almost everyone is allowed to return home on Wednesday, and by late afternoon, most JCP&L customers will be back on electricity. Some homes on Route 532, known as Wells Mills Road in Waretown, are still in danger, but the county highway opened Wednesday night.
This area of New Jersey is at the “wild city interface” that leads to risks, New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection Commissioner Shawn Latourte said in a news conference Wednesday.
The National Forest Fire Service is a department of the DEP. Latuart said that while the fire continues to burn, the damage is expected to be confined to the uninhabited wilderness of Peterland.
“We did avoid a major disaster,” he said.
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The fire could end up being the largest wildfire in New Jersey in 20 years, Latret said.
Earlier, Governor Lieutenant Tahesha Way – acting governor when Governor Phil Murphy left the state – declared a state of emergency in Southern Ocean County.
Latullett said the fire was “throwing itself” and causing a “scene” fire.
“From the main fire on the west side of Park Avenue, the wind will remain in another place, causing embers of the flanking fire,” he said.
New Jersey Chief Forest Fire Department Director Bill Donnelly spoke in the media. Officials held a press conference detailing the burning conditions of Jones Road, Ocean County. Barnegat, NJ, Wednesday, April 24, 2025
Chief Donnelly said statewide firefighters from Camden, Burlington, Gloucester, Ocean and Monmouth counties came to the affected towns.
“I'm going to talk about hundreds of fire trucks, and there's no doubt that anywhere you look, all southern New Jersey counties have resources,” Donley said.
He said the fire could continue to burn until – if the forecast remains the case, the area was hit by rain earlier in the weekend.
The fire began near the municipal border between Voeton and Banergat. The Forest Fire Department named the fire the Jones Road Fire after the Dirt Road of the same name in the ocean town of Brookville, which is also a part of Watertown.
The cause of the fire is under investigation.
Contact Asbury Park Prest Press Press Reporter Erik Larsen at elarsen@gannettnj.com.
This article originally appeared in Asbury Park Press: NJ Wildfire: Spread like 'Napalm', now only 50% of 13,500 acres
