Major Forest Fire Consumes Nearly 600 Acres In Ocean County

MANCHESTER, NJ — (Updated, 7 p.m.) New Jersey Forest Fire Service officials and firefighters are continuing to monitor a forest fire in Manchester Township that has consumed nearly 600 acres of forest on Sunday.

The service, in an 8 p.m. update, said the fire in the Greenwood Forest Wildlife Management area, which forced the closure of Route 539 for about four hours on Sunday, had been 40 percent contained. The service expected the fire would be contained to less than 570 acres after it burns out.

The smoke plume from the fire, which started about 10 a.m., is being seen for miles, with photos being posted from the Shark River Hills section of Neptune in Monmouth County, from Seaside Park and from points south as well.

The fire started on the southwestern edge of Manchester and flowed southeast into the Greenwood Forest WMA, the forest fire service said. The Greenwood area encompasses 32,000 acres of forest and property in Ocean and Burlington counties.

The said reports from observation helicopters showed containment lines are holding the fire into the area, with no spots of additional fires popping up.

"Winds are blowing south currently and therefore the threat is south and west of (Manchester) township," officials said.

A tweet by Joe Slezak showed a radar image of the fire:

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Manchester Township police and fire service officials said no homes or other properties are threatened by the forest fire at this time.

The fire led to the closure of Route 539 from the Whiting section of Manchester to Barnegat Township for about four hours, until a Nixle alert issued about 3:15 p.m. by the Ocean County Sheriff's Office, along with police from Manchester and Barnegat townships, said the road had been reopened.

The cause of the fire was not yet known; the New Jersey Forest Fire Service has been doing controlled burns the last several days to try to reduce the amount of leaves and brush that would feed a wildfire. Controlled burns were suspended on Sunday due to the forest fire, the forest fire service said.

This is a breaking news report and will be updated as more information becomes available.

The plume of smoke from the Manchester forest fire, as seen from Double Trouble State Park in Berkeley Township. Photo by John Bush