A forest fire in a Philadelphia suburb was threatening homes Thursday in what officials called the driest conditions in nearly 120 years.

Another fire about an hour away in Jackson Township was less than half contained when the blaze broke out in Evesham, threatening 50 homes, the New Jersey Forest Fire Service said. It could not immediately give a size estimate for the Evesham blaze.

“This is the driest we’ve been in the agency’s history,” said Jeremy Webber, a supervising fire warden with the Fire Service, which was established in 1906.

Lack of significant rainfall since August contributed to the dry conditions, which prompted the state to impose strict restrictions on outdoor fires.

Details about the Evesham fire were scarce Thursday morning, as the fire had only recently been reported. The fire service said the 50 threatened homes have not needed to be evacuated yet.

The fire in Jackson, in the central portion of the New Jersey Pine Barrens, had grown to less than half a square mile (1.2 square kilometers) and was 40% contained as of mid-morning Thursday, said Deale Carey, incident commander for the fire service.

He said conditions were so dry that new spot fires were continuously breaking out as wind-blown leaves fall onto burning or smoldering areas.

Two-minute read

There haven’t been many “pings” if any from OCEARCH-tagged great white sharks off New Jersey’s coast this year until this week, when a 12-footer nicknamed Scot popped up just inshore of the continental shelf.

A satellite picked up Scot’s tracking tag on its dorsal fin at 8:30 p.m. Tuesday, revealing the apex predator’s location was just northwest of the Hudson Canyon. The Hudson, a submarine canyon and prolific fishing ground for tuna, begins about 80 miles east of the Manasquan Inlet.

Scot is an impressive adult male shark that weighed 1,644 pounds when it was tagged by researchers Sept. 8, 2021, having been found it was swimming near Ironbound Island in Nova Scotia, Canada. OCEARCH researchers nicknamed him Scot after the people of Nova Scotia.

Since being tagged, Scot has swam 16,326 miles, a journey that has taken him from the Florida Keys to the Gulf of St. Lawrence on its seasonal migrations up and down the Atlantic Seaboard.

More: ‘I hunt dead things:’ Prehistoric fossils hide throughout New Jersey, waiting to be found

OCEARCH is a nonprofit research group that has been studying great white sharks’ behavior for over a decade off the eastern seaboard of the U.S. and Canada. Its Western North Atlantic White Shark Study is one of the most comprehensive studies of great white sharks in the world and includes a full health assessment of each shark, microbiological studies, movement, temperature and depth studies through the use of three different tags.

The largest of the great white sharks OCEARCH has tagged is Nukumi, a female that was 17 feet, 2 inches and 3,541 pounds when it was tagged. Nukumi has yet to ping off the coast of New Jersey.

The study has shown that the great white sharks winter in the waters off the southeastern coast of the U.S. and migrate north to waters off New England and Canada in the summer.

‘Jaws’ at 50: Peter Benchley’s toothy terror and the fascination with great white sharks

When Jersey Shore native Dan Radel is not reporting the news, you can find him in a college classroom where he is a history professor. Reach him @danielradelapp; 732-643-4072; dradel@gannettnj.com.

THE SCOOP

The Devils enter Thursday’s game fresh off a Western Canada road trip where they went 2-1-0. New Jersey picked up a 6-0 win over the Vancouver Canucks and a 3-0 win over the Edmonton Oilers. The sole loss of the trip was dealt by the Calgary Flames who scored three goals in the final six minutes of regulation to pick up the win. New Jersey has seen improved performances defensively as their goaltenders continue to come up with big saves and provide a calming presence. When it comes to special teams, the Devils penalty kill continues to shine, as they’re keeping their opponents from scoring on 83.3% of their power play opportunities (9th in the NHL). New Jersey’s power play is fifth in the NHL with a 30.4% success rate, and the Devils had power play goals in both of their road wins over the last week.

Jacob Markstrom has played the majority of the Devils schedule and through 10 games he has a 5-4-1 record. Markstrom is averaging 2.62 goals against per game and has a .907 save percentage. Jake Allen, the other half of the goaltending tandem, has played five games and has a 3-1-1 record. He’s averaging 2.60 goals against and has a .904 save percentage. Both goaltenders recorded a shutout on the Western Canada swing with Markstrom getting the win in Vancouver, while Allen won in Edmonton.

Thursday’s game kicks off six games in 10 nights for the Devils. Up next, a weekend back-to-back that starts with a road game on Long Island before the Devils return home to host the San Jose Sharks. Next weekend, New Jersey heads out on a three-game Florida road trip where they face the Panthers twice before wrapping up with a game against the Tampa Bay Lightning.

The Canadiens are on a four-game losing skid and most recently lost 3-2 in overtime to the Calgary Flames Tuesday night. In their most recent loss, both of Montreal’s goals were special teams goals as Brendan Gallagher scored on the power play and Joel Armia had a shorthanded goal. The Canadiens’ special teams are middle of the pack as the power play is ranked 13th in the NHL while the penalty kill is 14th. However, Montreal is allowing the second most goals against per game (4.00) and are averaging the 23rd most goals per game (2.69).

Sam Montembeault and Cayden Primeau make up the Canadiens goaltender tandem with Montembeault playing the majority of games. Montembeault has played nine games to start the year and has a 3-5-1 record. He’s averaging 3.37 goal against with a .897 save percentage. Primeau has started four games and played in six. He has a 1-2-1 record, is averaging 4.38 goals against and has a .861 save percentage.

Thursday’s game starts four-straight on the road for Canadiens who make stops in Toronto, Buffalo, and Minnesota before returning home.

WHO’S HOT

Devils: Captain Nico Hischier continues to lead the Devils with his on-ice performance. His 10 goals and 16 points lead New Jersey and Hischier has points in 10 of the first 15 games this season. Hischier has four multi-point games including two with three points: Oct. 19 versus the Washington Capitals and Oct. 30 in Vancouver.

Canadiens: Forward Cole Caufield also has 10 goals to start the year as he leads the Canadiens in that scoring category. Caufield has scored at least one goal in eight of 12 games played. He has two multi-goal games: Oct. 12 versus the Ottawa Senators and Oct. 19 in a road contest against the New York Islanders.

INJURIES

Devils: Lazar (left knee), Bastian (jaw), Hatakka (upper-body)

Canadiens: Harvey-Pinard (leg, IR), Laine (leg, IR)

REGULAR-SEASON RESULTS

• Nov. 7 vs MTL
• Jan. 25 at MTL
• Feb. 8 at MTL