New Jersey, 2001

Wildfire in New Jersey, April 28 to 29, 2001

April 28 to 29, 2001 · NWS PHI · 1 event in 1 county or zone

The largest wildfire of the weekend (April 28th and 29th) began during Saturday afternoon the 28th just east of the Millville Municipal Airport. Before it was under control during the afternoon of the 29th, about 765 acres were burned.

Where it happened

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The toll

Deaths
0
Injuries
0
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 largest wildfire of the weekend (April 28th and 29th) began during Saturday afternoon the 28th just east of the Millville Municipal Airport. Before it was under control during the afternoon of the 29th, about 765 acres were burned. The fire spread quickly during the afternoon of the 28th aided by gusty northwest winds and an unseasonably dry second half of April. By the early evening of the 28th, about 450 acres already burned. The fire jumped across Buckshutem Road and spread along Buckshutem Creek along the Millville and Commercial Township border near Laurel Lake. About 60 homes in the Laurel Lake Development were evacuated near the fire. Two dozen people were sheltered in a school. All evacuated residents were allowed back to their homes by the morning of the 29th. This was the largest wildfire of the weekend and burned 745 acres. No property was damaged, but scrub pines and oak trees were destroyed. In all, there were 79 brush fires that burned 1,041 acres throughout the state of the New Jersey that weekend.

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before the first event, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS Philadelphia/Mount Holly wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Apr 28, 2:25 AM EST, 9 hours 50 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Apr 28, 2:25 AM EST, 9 hours 50 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MOUNT HOLLY NJ
325 AM EDT SAT APR 28 2001

MID LVL TROF AXIS IS OVER FA AND WILL MOVE E SLOWLY THROUGH TODAY
AND TONIGHT...THEN RIDGE AXIS WILL BEGIN TO BUILD TOWARD US SUN AND
SUN NIGHT. RIPPLES FCST TO DROP THROUGH THE TROF TODAY...BUT
ATMOSPHERE LOOKS QUITE DRY. THE RIPPLES SHOULD KEEP US FROM CLEARING
OUT COMPLETELY...BUT DRYNESS SHOULD MAKE MSNY A DECENT FCST FOR
TODAY DESPITE AREAS OF CLDS OVER FA ATTIM. THEN WILL KEEP CLOUDS OUT
OF AREA THROUGH SUN NIGHT AS RIDGE BUILDS TOWARD US AND WE REMAIN
DRY. AT THE SFC...HIGH PRES WILL DROP OUT OF UPR GREAT LAKES REGION
AND TOWARD US THROUGH SUN NIGHT. CENTRAL SFC PRES NOT FCST TO DROP
MUCH AT ALL THROUGH SUN EVE...HINTING THAT AIR MASS MODIFICATION
WOULD BE WEAK IN THE SHORT TERM. ALTHO MILD WARMING AT H8 FOR SUN
VIS A VIS TODAY...THE LOW LEVEL THERMAL PARAMETERS LOOK SOMEWHAT
COOLER THAN TODAY. ON OTHER HAND...SUN ANGLE IS GETTING UP
THERE...SO WILL KEEP TEMPS FOR SUNDAY BASICALLY THE SAME AS TODAY.
PERHAPS A MODEST WARMUP FOR THE POCONOS AND FAR NWRN NJ. LOCAL
SCHEME SUPPORTS THIS...AND SUPPORTS STAT GUIDANCE MAXES TODAY.

LOOKS LIKE THE SFC HIGH WILL GET CLOSE ENOUGH TO FA TO ALLOW FOR
DECOUPLING TONIGHT AFTER A BREEZY DAY. THIS RAISES THE QUESTION OF
HOW MUCH WILL WE RADIATE...AS DWPTS LOOK TO BE WELL BELOW THE
FREEZING MARK. NIGHTTIME ONLY LASTS ABOUT TEN HOURS THESE DAYS...AND
THE FIRST SEVERAL HOURS LIKELY WILL SEE SOME MIXING. HAVE GONE LOWER
ON THE MINS THAN PREV FCST...BUT NOT QUITE DOWN TO THE COOLEST STAT
GUIDANCE. THE DAY SHIFT WILL REVISIT THIS...AND DECIDE IF AND WHERE
A FREEZE WARNING IS WARRANTED.
R
WE HAVE A SCA GOING...THO IT LOOKS MARGINAL.

.PHI...SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY FROM SANDY HOOK NJ TO FENWICK ISLAND DE
       AND FOR DELAWARE BAY.

MPD

The radar

The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

1 wildfire. Local standard time, as filed.

Wildfire, Cumberland

When
April 28, 12:15 PM EST to April 29, 1:00 PM EST
Where
Cumberland County, Millville
Reported by
PARK/FOREST SERVICE
Coordinates
39.328, -75.129 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

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

More

Every storm in New Jersey in 2001Every state in 2001This day in weather historyWarnings in New Jersey, April 2001

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: 5240761.