A massive forest fire in Ocean County, NJ, is now 60 percent contained after burning nearly 4000 acres. No injuries have been reported and no homes have been damaged.
Although the state is not in a drought, there's no chance of rain until the weekend in the part of New Jersey where the fire is burning. The state on Wednesday banned campfires and imposed restrictions on charcoal or gas fires.
Forest fires are a common occurrence in the Pine Barrens, a 1.1 million-acre state and federally protected reserve about halfway between Philadelphia to the west and the Atlantic coast to the east. On Wednesday afternoon, the Forest Fire Service was responding to another blaze in West Milford in the northwest potion of the state near Route 23, but estimates of the size of that fire were not immediately available.
About 75 firefighters, two helicopters, bulldozers and 15 fire engines were being used to battle the flames.Greg McLaughlin, chief of the New Jersey Forest Fire Service said the fire began on the grounds of Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, a military facility spanning several municipalities at about 4 p.m. Tuesday.
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