UPDATE: Massive Berkeley Brush Fire Contained As New Blaze Erupts; Residents Go Home

by Patricia A. Miller

The massive forest fire that swept through the Pinewald section of Berkeley Township in Ocean County, N.J. was completely contained by Friday morning, allowing residents to begin returning home, according to the police department.

A heavy police and fire presence lingered through the night while a second fire, at Dover Road, was reportedly 50 percent contained and spanning 150 acres.

Fire officials earlier Thursday night allowed some Pinewald residents to return home after they evacuated hours earlier and sought shelter from a wind-aided fire that destroyed over 300 acres.

With the fire 80 percent contained, they were to reassess the status of those still displaced by early Friday, according to the police department.

Click here to see how Patch captured the devastation on video, showing the chaos that ensued as the blaze ripped through the township.

Residents who live on the south side of Northern Boulevard and on Grand Central Parkway South of the Northern Boulevard intersection were being allowed to return home, according to the Berkeley Township Police Department.
 
Residents who were still displaced could use the Berkeley branch of the Ocean County Library on Station Road or the Toms River branch on Washington Street as shelters.

Firefighters are still trying to close in on a brush fire that roared to life around noon and has destroyed 307 acres in the Pinewald section of Berkeley Township, a state fire official said.
 
"It was about 30 percent contained as of 3:30," said Steve Holmes, Assistant State Fire Warden for the state Forest Fire Service. "We'll probably be here until it rains. It's going to rain tomorrow night."

A fire warden in the Lakewood fire tower first spotted a column of thick black smoke around noon, he said.

"Which tells us it's burning very fast," Holmes said. "We knew we had a good fire."

Residents along Northern Boulevard and several surrounding streets in Pinewald were evacuated. The blaze did not reach any houses, but Holmes said he heard a shed was destroyed.

Homes and other buildings from Northern to Maryland streets were evacuated once the raging, wind-aided blaze was reported around 12 noon.

Several homes sustained some damage, and a shed melted and burned. But no injures were reported.

High wind, low humidity and a dry forest made the blaze a "Class 5 fire," which is the most dangerous type, Berkeley officials said.

The fire spread rapidly, fanned by winds up to 40 miles an hour, low humidity and tinder-dry woods. Local and state firefighters spend much of the afternoon working on a "block" to contain the flames, and even did a controlled "burnout" near the Toms River Intermediate School South South on Pinewald Road, he said.

Smoke wafted through the pines, trees caught on fire and the blaze crept up to a driveway near the school, all part of the burnout, later this afternoon.

Toms River Intermediate South dismissed its students early, and the children were sent to the Pine Belt Arena for shelter. Berkeley schools announced they would not be busing children home immediately because of the fire.

State Police forbid people from getting anywhere near the 307-acre fire, telling people: "The wind can switch at any minute."

Fires in this section of New Jersey are common in the spring and fall, said Holmes, who grew up in Beachwood.

And the harsh, snowy winter didn't reduce the fire risk, because of the extremely permeable sandy soils in the Pine Barrens, he said.

"The sand is almost like beach sand," he said. "It drains very fast. We don't need a drought."

The winds are expected to drop slightly later tonight, which should help with firefighting efforts, he said.

"We are here for the duration," Holmes said. "We are planning on a night shift."

Northern Boulevard residents Robert and Joan Martinez stood in the street outside their home and listened to helicopters thundering overhead, making sweeps over the smoke.

The couple said despite the order to evacuate, they are staying put. They went through this before in 2002. Robert has five hoses and spigots which he said he can use. 

"I've got my hoses," he said. "I'll put them on my roof. We are not leaving this house. They just told me I have to evacuate. I told them we cannot evacuate."