Wildfire, Ocean
- When
- July 19, 12:17 PM EST to July 20, 6:00 PM EST
- Where
- Ocean County, Cedar Crest
- Injuries
- 4 direct, 0 indirect
- Coordinates
- 39.866, -74.250 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)
Wildfire in New Jersey, July 19 to 20, 1997
The hot and unseasonably dry weather in July helped exacerbate wild fires throughout the state of New Jersey. To date the largest wild fire of the month started in the Wrangle Brook area of Manchester and Berkeley Townships in Ocean County around Noon EDT on the 19th.
Where it happened
Every event with a place to put it; 1 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. Tap one for its entry below.
- Tornadoes
- Tropical storms and surge
- Floods
- Wind
- Hail
- Winter weather
- Heat and drought
- Cold
- Fire, smoke and dust
- Marine and coastal
- Other
The toll
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 4
- Property damage
- None recorded
- Crop damage
- None recorded
- Events
- 1
Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.
What happened
The episode as NWS PHI wrote it up.
The hot and unseasonably dry weather in July helped exacerbate wild fires throughout the state of New Jersey. To date the largest wild fire of the month started in the Wrangle Brook area of Manchester and Berkeley Townships in Ocean County around Noon EDT on the 19th. The fire burned into the Holiday City Retirement Village directly threatening 300 homes and damaged 20. About 800 residents were evacuated during the height of the blaze. The fire was contained at 700 p.m. EDT on the 20th. About 702 acres of forest was burned and four Forest Fire Service Firefighters were injured fighting the fire. This fire was the largest, but since July 1st 354 separate wild fires had burned 1,313.5 acres of New Jersey's forests.
The radar
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
Event by event
1 wildfire. Local standard time, as filed.
What these are
- Wildfire
- A fire burning in wildland vegetation, with its acreage and damage where known.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
The same day elsewhere
- Heat in Texas, July 19 to 30, 1997
- Flash Flooding in Oklahoma, July 19, 1997
- Hail in Nebraska, July 19, 1997
- Flash Flood and Flooding in Minnesota, July 19, 1997
- Damaging Wind in Missouri, July 19, 1997
- Tornado and Damaging Winds in Illinois, July 19, 1997
- Damaging Wind in Illinois, July 19, 1997
- Damaging Winds and Lightning Strike in Iowa, July 19, 1997
- Hail and Damaging Wind in South Dakota, July 19, 1997
- Flash Flooding and Hail in Colorado, July 19, 1997
- Damaging Winds in North Carolina, July 19, 1997
- Hail and Damaging Wind in Colorado, July 19, 1997
More
Every storm in New Jersey in 1997Every state in 1997This day in weather historyWarnings in New Jersey, July 1997
Sources
NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 5614497.