2nd Brush Fire In 3 Days Under Control In Brick; Baywood Section Roads Reopened

Updated, 11:45 p.m. April 13

BRICK, NJ — Firefighters were monitoring hotspots overnight Thursday into Friday off Mandalay Road after battling the second fire in three days in the marshy areas near Barnegat Bay off Drum Point Road.

The fire forced authorities to shut down Mandalay Road and St. Lawrence Boulevard about 7:20 p.m. so emergency equipment could easily access the area. Residents on the south side of Baywood and in the Seawood Harbor neighborhood, at the far end of St. Lawrence, were forced to park at Angela Hibberd Park, with police officers providing rides to their homes.

Brick police late Thursday night announced all of the roads had been reopened to traffic.

"There is still a smoke condition in the area and fire personnel remain in the area," police said in the update at about 11:30 p.m.

New Jersey Forest Fire Service crews were keeping watch on smoldering trees and hotspots.

Firefighters battled the fire by setting backfires along Mandalay Road in addition to pouring water on the burning brush. Police told residents to stay inside and close their windows and doors because of the smoke resulting from the backfires.

"Smoke may also be carried throughout the area due to the wind," Brick police said in the alert about 8:15 p.m.

Radio transmissions indicated Brick's fire companies were receiving support from neighboring towns and had requested a fire tender truck — a water tanker that carries thousands of gallons of water — to help reach areas of the fire that are long distances from fire hydrants.

While Thursday night's fire was off Drum Point Road, it was not in the same location as Tuesday's brush fire.

That fire, which consumed 10 acres of grass and was under control within about two hours, was on the north side of Alameda Drive near East Coral Drive, north of the lagoon neighborhoods of the Baywood section. Thursday's fire was on the south side of the Baywood lagoons.

Gregory McLaughlin, chief of the New Jersey Forest Fire Service, on Wednesday afternoon after a news conference said fires in the marsh burn differently from ones in the forest, like the Manchester wildfire.

A forest wildfire feeds itself because it "preheats" the fuel near it: the heat of the flames further dries out already dry leaves and pine needles and underbrush, so they catch fire that much more quickly when the flames reach them, McLaughlin said in a brief interview following a news conference on the Manchester fire.

In a brush fire in a marshy area, the fire burns differently because of the moisture that is part of the environment, he said. The phragmites — the tall grasses — that grow there don't burn the way dry leaves do.

"They result in incomplete combustion," McLaughlin said.

Because they don't burn completely and have that moisture, they give off a much darker smoke, he said.

In addition, because the phragmites are so close to the bay they can pick up oils from boats and jetskis, which can have a similar effect on the smoke as if a pile of tires is burning, McLaughlin said.

The cause of Tuesday's fire, which threatened 10 homes but did not damage any or cause any injuries, remains under investigation.