Officials: South Jersey wildfire impacts hundreds of acres; 12 buildings temporarily evacuated

The New Jersey Forest Fire Service says the fire is in Evesham and Voorhees townships on the border of Burlington and Camden counties.

Chris Keating, Tom Krosnowski and Matt Trapani

Nov 7, 2024, 5:53 PM

Updated 17 min ago

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A wildfire on the border of Burlington and Camden counties has forced the temporary evacuation of a dozen buildings and is threatening dozens more.
The New Jersey Forest Fire Service says the fire is in Evesham and Voorhees townships. It says that as of 3 p.m., the fire is impacting at least 300 acres of land and is 50% contained.
The fire is threatening 104 buildings - 12 of which were temporarily evacuated as a precaution. Fire officials said that as of 6:30 p.m., all evacuation orders were lifted and residents were allowed to return home.
A fire official stationed at one of the Forest Fire Service towers first reported the fire around 9 a.m. near Sycamore Avenue and Kettle Run Road in Evesham.
Officials say Sycamore Avenue is closed, Kettle Run Road is closed from Braddock Mill Road to Hopewell Road and access to the Sturbridge Lakes Development is closed.
New Jersey Forest Fire Service says it is dropping water from helicopters with buckets carrying 350 gallons of water, plus performing backfires and burnouts, which is the process of burning off leaves and brush that could fuel the fire.
This is all to keep nearby homes safe from burning.
“We have been running fires every day for over a month. We’ve had 400 fires statewide in October alone, that’s a record,” says Greg Mclaughlin, with the New Jersey Forest Fire Service.
The air in nearby neighborhoods has been filled with smoke and ash. Backyards have layers of dried leaves and brush that haven’t been touched by rain in weeks.
News 12 found Hollie Donnon doing her part. She was watering her pile of leaves out front.
“I’m hosing down everything that I can that’s dry in the event that embers or ashes start to fall, so it won’t start another fire back here,” she says. “Hopefully, the smoke doesn’t get much thicker but if it does, we may have to high tail it out.”
Other homeowners have been using sprinklers to keep their lawns and properties wet and protected.
The cause of the fire was not immediately known.
A Red Flag Warning has been issued for Friday across the state.
Previous reporting by News 12's Chris Keating