July 7 (UPI) — A wildfire burning in a New Jersey state Park is 75-percent contained officials said Sunday. It has scorched more than 4,000 acres since Friday.
Fire officials said the extreme heat and rugged terrain is making full containment a challenge.
“It’s hot. I think it’s roughly 94 degrees,” New Jersey Forest Fire Service Chief Bill Donnelly said Friday. “Humidity’s up so a lot of wear and tear on the firefighters.
“The fire is burning in a very rugged area of the Wharton State Forest. A lot of it is inaccessible to motorized vehicles and our fire equipment,” Tom Gerber, incident commander of the NJFFS said Friday.
The so-called Tea Time Hill Wildfire was started by fireworks on July 4th and detected by the U.S. Forest Service about 9am the next day.
“A fireworks device lighted inside the forest ignited the fire late Thursday, July 4,” the NJFFS said in a Facebook post.
No structures are currently threatened, the Forest Service said. The NJFFS had previously reported that a residence and hunting club were threatened and park police evacuated Batona Campground as a precaution. A few local roads and trails were also closed. No injuries or damaged structures had been reported as of Sunday.
“On average, 1,500 wildfires damage or destroy 7,000 acres of New Jersey’s forests each year,” the NJFFS said.
In 2023, wildfire burned more than 18,000 acres of forest in New Jersey. The NJFFS responded to more major fires than they had in more than 20 years.