Forest Fire Mostly Out In Ocean County; Controlled Burns Resuming: Authorities

MANCHESTER, NJ — If you're seeing or smelling smoke in Ocean or Monmouth counties on Monday, more than likely what you're seeing is controlled burn operations by the New Jersey Forest Fire Service.

The forest fire service said the controlled burns — designed to remove dead vegetation that could fuel a serious forest fire — were resuming Monday at three sites, a day after the burning was shut down while firefighters battled a significant blaze in Manchester Township.

That fire, which was first seen by a Forest Fire Service spotter in the Cedar Bridge tower about 10 a.m. on Sunday, was expected to consume roughly 570 acres in the Whiting section of the township in the Greenwood Forest Wildlife Management Area, officials said. Greenwood Forest WMA covers more than 32,000 acres of Pinelands in Ocean and Burlington counties.

The fire, which resulted in the closure of Route 539 for about four hours on Sunday, was deemed 80 percent contained as of an 11 p.m., according to the forest fire service. Manchester Township police sent a Nixle alert at 1 p.m. Monday saying the fire had been completely contained.

There was no damage to any residents' homes or other structures, Manchester police and the Ocean County Sheriff's Office said. The cause of the fire remains under investigation.

The state forest fire service has been conducting controlled burns throughout the state for more than a week, including a controlled burn in the Lacey Township section of the Greenwood Forest WMA on Thursday. It was not known whether that burn was related to Sunday's fire.

The controlled or prescribed burns aim to limit the material that could result in major forest fires, which have occurred over the years in the Pinelands.

Some of those fires are accidental, like the 2007 Warren Grove forest fire, which burned more than 17,000 acres and forced thousands of residents to flee after a flare from an F-15 landed beyond the target area, are accidental. A 2002 fire at Jakes Branch Park in Beachwood that destroyed 1,700 acres and a home while shutting down the Garden State Parkway was deemed the result of a campfire that wasn't properly extinguished.

But in 2014, a fire was deliberately set along Pinewald-Keswick Road while firefighters battled an accidental blaze on the Beachwood-Berkeley Township border. More than 600 people were forced to evacuate, including students at Toms River Intermediate South, and the two fires that April day destroyed roughly 550 acres.

One of the largest forest fires in the area was a 1995 fire in the Greenwood Forest WMA that burned nearly 20,000 acres. According to reports in the New York Times, the fire forced the closure of 10 miles of the Garden State Parkway and jumped Route 539, according to the state forest fire service. Investigators said arson was the suspected cause of that fire, according to the Times.

Greenwood Forest WMA was not listed among sites that were scheduled for burning on Sunday on a post by the forest fire service on the state's New Jersey Forests Facebook page. Sites that originally were scheduled were: Franklin Parker Preserve, Chatsworth; Warren Grove Firing Range, Stafford; Brendan Byrne State Forest; Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst; Allaire State Park, Wall; and Lake Shenandoah Park, Lakewood.

The sites undergoing prescribed burns Monday are:

• Franklin Parker Preserve, Chatsworth
• Warren Grove Gunnery Range, Stafford
• Route 537 across from Great Adventure, Millstone Township

Forest fire service officials said the schedule is weather-dependent and may change.

Regardless of the schedule announcements, residents are urged to call 9-1-1 or 877-WARN-DEP (877-927-6337) if there is any question about the source of smoke or a fire.

The New Jersey Division of Parks and Forestry will provide as much notice as possible of prescribed burns on Facebook; click here.

A plume of smoke rising from the Greenwood Forest WMA on Sunday, as seen from Double Trouble State Park. Photo by John Bush