Wildfire, Western Ocean
- When
- May 15, 1:15 PM EST to May 21, 5:00 PM EST
- Where
- Western Ocean forecast zone
- Injuries
- 2 direct, 0 indirect
- Property damage
- $500,000
- Reported by
- Newspaper
- Coordinates
- 39.866, -74.250 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)
A large forest fire consumed 15,550 acres of forest in Stafford and Barnegat Townships. About twenty-four square miles of forest was destroyed. The fire also destroyed five homes and significantly damaged fifty other homes. Two New Jersey Forestry Service personnel were injured battling the blaze. At the height of the blaze, about 6,000 people from about 2,500 homes were evacuated from the two townships. The fire started about 215 p.m. EDT on the 15th. It spread rapidly because of the strong southwest winds and the unseasonably dry weather that had occurred during the first half of May. The peak wind gust from the Atlantic City International Airport in Atlantic County on the 15th was 32 mph. The wildfire was believed to have been caused by a self-defense flare discharged by an F-16 Falcon Fighter from the New Jersey Air National Guard 117th fighter wing. The aircrafts were involved in self-defense exercises over the Warren Grove Training Facilities with two A10 Thunderbolt II ground support jets from the Pennsylvania Air National Guard. In all about 600 firefighters from as far away as Sussex and Cumberland Counties in New Jersey along with seven aircraft helped battle the blaze. This was the largest wildfire in New Jersey since April of 1995 when about 20,000 acres burned again in southern Ocean County.
Evacuations started at about 4 p.m. EDT on the 15th. In Stafford Township, evacuations occurred from the Atlantic Hills, Fawn Lake, Ocean Breeze and Ocean Acres development west of Breakers Drive. This was the first time that a forest fire caused an evacuation of all or part of that large development. They were permitted to return on the 17th. Three convalescent homes were evacuated: Manahawkin, Somerville Assisted Living and Southern Ocean Nursing and Rehabilitation. Three active adult communities were also evacuated: Pheasant Run, Horizons and Heritage Point. They were permitted to return early on the 16th, but had to be evacuated again later that day as the gust front from the approaching thunderstorms brought west winds to the fire zone. They were permitted to return home on the 17th. In Barnegat Township, the fast moving fire did most of its structural damage and forced the evacuation until the 17th of the Brighton at Barnegat and Pinewood Estates Mobile Homes as well as the Scrubby Pines Campground. The five homes that were destroyed were located in the two former developments. The evacuees were sent to the Russell O. Brackman School and the Barnegat High School in Barnegat and the Southern Regional High School in Stafford.
The wildfire rapidly jumped over Ocean County Route 539 and New Jersey State Route 72 on its way northeast into Barnegat Township. Both roadways were closed. A section of Ocean County Route 554 was also closed in Barnegat Township. The Garden State Parkway on the 15th had three exits closed. There was a 25 mile back-up on the southbound side. On the 16th because of the thick smoke it became necessary to close the parkway between mile markers 58 and 72. Southbound U.S. Route 9 was backed up as far north as Lacey Township.
The fire was about thirty-three percent contained at Noon EDT on the 16th as gusty southwest winds continued to cause problems. Flames reached as high as 150 feet in the air. The gust front (west winds) that preceded the thunderstorms during the early evening of the 16th started pushing the fire toward the Garden State Parkway. But, the half an inch of rain that fell from the thunderstorms helped the fire to be about seventy percent contained on the night of the 16th. The fire reached about ninety to ninety-five percent containment on the afternoon of the 18th as another gentle soaking rain fell. The fire was declared fully contained on the 21st and was also about ninety percent under control. In addition to damage to homes and injuries to fire fighters, many deer were killed and many turtles that took refuge on roadways were run over.