Fire crews in New Jersey have completely contained two major fires that threatened homes and prompted evacuations earlier in the week.
New Jersey Forest Fire Service officials on Saturday night announced complete containment of the 210-acre Flatiron wildfire blaze in Medford in Burlington County.
The fire started just after midnight Friday and was burning toward 40 homes before crews managed to move the blaze away from the structures. Residents weren’t evacuated but were protected within their homes, some using garden hoses to help as crews worked in the backyards to conduct backfires and burnout operations, officials said.
Firefighters earlier announced complete containment of a fire burning in the Bass River State Forest, which stretches across Ocean and Burlington counties in the Pinelands. The blaze, the largest in the state this year, had burned about 5,475-acres since Wednesday.
About 40 people were evacuated as a precaution Thursday from a camping area and a long stretch of New Jersey’s Garden State Parkway, the state’s major north-south highway, was closed but was reopened Friday morning.
Officials say they are looking into the causes of the fires.
