Pinelands fire swells to 1,200 acres, but now 40% contained, officials say

A wildfire that broke out Friday morning in a heavily used Pinelands recreation area grew to 1,200 acres by Friday evening, but firefighters were “making progress” and the fire was 40% contained, state officials said.

Earlier, the New Jersey Forest Fire Service had reported that the fire — which had forced the closure of a campground and popular part of the Batona Trail — involved 450 acres, but that none of it was contained.

Overnight crews would continue to work on controlling the fire, officials said in a social media post at 8 p.m.

The fire service announced the trail closure about 11:30 a.m.

Officials ordered everyone to leave the Batona Campground in Wharton State Forest. The campground is in Tabernacle, Burlington County.

The fire impacted the area around Apple Pie Hill, where a fire tower offers panoramic views of the surrounding Pine Barrens and is a popular hiking route.

Officials closed part of the 53-mile long Batona Trail between Route 532 and Carranza Road. They also closed the Tulpehocken Trail from Apple Pie Hill to Hawkins Bridge.

The blaze has been dubbed the Tea Time Hill Wildfire, named after a feature on the hiking route from the Carranza Memorial in Tabernacle to Apple Pie Hill. Batona Campground is a staging area for many undertaking the hike.

Fire crews asked people to avoid the area.

At least two buildings — a hunting club and a home — were threatened.

Officials expected they would have to close Carranza Road as the day went on.

Ground crews were using backfires, which are fires intentionally set to consume downed wood in the path of a wildfire to rob it of fuel or change its direction. The fire service also deployed a helicopter for observation.

At more than 110,000 acres, Wharton State Forest is the largest single tract in New Jersey’s state park system. It lies within the Pinelands National Reserve, roughly 1.1 million acres of either protected or heavily regulated land within the state’s Pine Barrens.

The 12-foot tall Carranza Memorial in Tabernacle within Wharton is a landmark frequently used by hikers, cyclists and birders as a meeting point. It commemorates the spot where Capt. Emilio Carranza Rodríguez was killed during thunderstorms while returning from a historic goodwill flight from Mexico City to the United States in 1928.

Carranza had made his flight in response to a 1927 flight from New York City to Mexico City by Charles Lindbergh.

The memorial lies about half a mile from the Batona Campground, a roughly 4.5-mile round-trip hike to Apple Pill Hill.

Wildfires are a natural part of the Pinelands ecosystem. In April, a wildfire also in Wharton burned 510 acres before it was fully contained.