South Jersey wildfire swells to 1,500 acres in Camden and Burlington Counties, but firefighters making ‘significant progress’

Firefighters late Monday were “making significant progress” to contain a growing wildfire in Wharton State Forest that swelled in size on the border of Camden and Burlington Counties.

The blaze, dubbed the Dragway Wildfire by the New Jersey Forest Fire Service, grew to encompass 1,500 acres of woodland near the shuttered Atco Dragway in Waterford Township. It was spotted near Jackson Road on Sunday, and as of Monday night, 75% of the fire was contained.

Crews built containment lines Monday to keep the fire from spreading farther, officials said. Jackson Road in Waterford has closed from Atsion Road to Tremont Avenue.

Officials have stressed the fire poses no threat to nearby structures. No injures have been reported, and there have been no evacuations. Assistant State Fire Warden Bill Donnelly said because the fire started in a remote area of the woods, crews are expected to be on the scene for days.

“Our apparatus could not make access to the fire,” Donnelly told reporters late Monday morning. “We made access to the fire on foot, but because we can’t get any bulldozers or any fire apparatus to the fire, we have to bring it out to a safe place to contain it.”

Wharton State Forest spans more than 110,000 acres across Atlantic, Burlington, and Camden Counties. It’s the largest single tract of land within New Jersey’s state park system.

This is the 13th wildfire New Jersey has experienced this season, and the fire service says blazes that exceed 100 acres are considered “major wildfires.” Last year, a wildfire in Wharton State Forest swelled into New Jersey’s largest blaze in 15 years, burning about 15,000 acres before it was fully contained.

The cause of the wildfire remains under investigation.

Here are more photos of the fire: