Wildfire, Camden
- When
- June 10, 9:50 AM EST to June 11, 4:00 AM EST
- Where
- Camden County, 5 mi E of Atco
- Reported by
- NEWSPAPER
- Coordinates
- 39.804, -74.960 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)
Wildfire in New Jersey, June 10 to 11, 2002
A wildfire on June 10th in Wharton State Forest quickly consumed about 746 acres, forced the shutdown of an electric transmission line and the voluntary evacuation of about 100 homes. Students in an after school program in Thomas Richards Elementary School were also evacuated.
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
- 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.
A wildfire on June 10th in Wharton State Forest quickly consumed about 746 acres, forced the shutdown of an electric transmission line and the voluntary evacuation of about 100 homes. Students in an after school program in Thomas Richards Elementary School were also evacuated. Other schools held the children until the parents arrived. Electric power was rerouted with minimal interruptions. About 100 firefighters battled the blaze. No homes were damaged and no injuries were reported. The fire was discovered by the Forestry Service at 1050 a.m. EDT. The slow recovery from drought conditions and southeast winds of about 15 mph spread the fire quickly. The fire was contained at 5 p.m. EDT on the 10th and was under control overnight.
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 Jun 10, 9:36 AM EST, 14 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, Jun 10, 9:36 AM EST, 14 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION...UPDATED NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MOUNT HOLLY NJ 1036 AM EDT MON JUN 10 2002 SFC ANALYSIS SHOWS DISSIPATING COLD FRONT INTO FAR SRN ZONES THIS AM. WINDS HAVE PICKED UP A LTL ALONG THE COAST...BRINGING IN A BIT OF A MARITIME INFLUENCE. HOWEVER...THE SOUNDING FROM OKX SHOWS THE AIR BELOW H8 IS AS WARM OR WARMER THAN IT WAS YSTDY. 06Z STAT GUIDANCE AND LOCAL SCHEMES SUGGESTING PRESENT MAX TEMPS ARE CLOSE TO CORRECT...PERHAPS A TAD LOW...WHILE OKX SOUNDING SUGGESTS MAXES SHOULD BE BUMPED UP A CAT. BECAUSE OF THOSE 10 KT WINDS FROM THE NE JUST INLAND FROM THE COAST...WILL ONLY NUDGE TEMPS UP A LTL. WILL...BECAUSE OF CAP ON OKX SOUNDING...GO TO MSTLY SNY. WILL ALSO MASSAGE THE WINDS A LTL. NO OTHER CHANGES. PREV DISCUSSION IS BELOW. .PHI... DE...NONE. MD...NONE. NJ...NONE. PA...NONE. MARINE...NONE. MPD ******************************************************************* WK FNT IN NE PA/NW NJ TO WIPE OUT TDA AS CANADA HI WKNS AND SLDS E. FA WL BE LEFT IN SOME CLDS AND S-SW WNDS WITH WRMNG TEMPS. TEMPS GNRLY IN UP 70S N AND L-M 80S ELSEWHERE...XCPTN ALNG SHORE. SRN HI CNTRLS WX TNGT AND TUE WITH MORE HUMID AND WARMER TEMPS IN STORE FOR TUE. LO PRES IN MDWEST TO MOV E ALNG NY STA TUE NGT INTO WED AND BRING CHC RW/TRW TO AREA TUE NGT. ON MARINE...ALL QUITE. JWH
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
- Flood in Minnesota, June 10 to 25, 2002
- Tornadoes and Hail in Nebraska, June 10, 2002
- Flood in Minnesota, June 10 to 25, 2002
- Tornado and Hail in Kansas, June 10, 2002
- Damaging Winds in Iowa, June 10 to 11, 2002
- Hail in Kansas, June 10 to 11, 2002
- Flood in Minnesota, June 10 to 30, 2002
- Hail and Damaging Winds in Texas, June 10, 2002
- Damaging Wind in Iowa, June 10, 2002
- Flash Flooding in Texas, June 10 to 11, 2002
- Hail and Damaging Winds in Minnesota, June 10, 2002
- Flash Flood and Hail in North Dakota, June 10, 2002
More
Every storm in New Jersey in 2002Every state in 2002This day in weather historyWarnings in New Jersey, June 2002
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: 5300467.