Tracy J. Chappelle 
Authorities ruled out natural causes, and New Jersey Environmental Protection Commissioner Shawn M. LaTourette said the fire could have been prevented.
“It reminds me of the imperative we all share, to take care of the environment and each other, to follow the rules,” he said at a press conference on Monday. LaTourette didn’t say whether investigators had determined a cause, but said he was talking generally about issues, including tending to campfires and other activities that typically start camp fires. human origin.
There were no burning restrictions in place before the blaze broke out on Sunday morning, officials said.
On Monday, fire crews were battling the blaze in four townships – Washington, Shamong, Hammonton and Mullica – after dry and windy conditions helped spread the fire, according to the NJFFS.
Authorities said wind was hampering efforts to jettison water from helicopters while areas along the Mullica River – which the fire skipped twice – were too wet for equipment to enter, but not enough to stop the fire.
The fire department said crews were working to contain the blaze with blowback operations, a firefighting tactic in which fires are intentionally started along the inside edge of a fire line to burn fuel in the path of the forest fire so that it does not spread.
Fire crews are focusing their efforts on protecting structures at the Wharton State Forest Campgrounds and the Village of Batsto, a Washington Township Historic Site, according to Larry Hajna, spokesman for the Department of New Jersey Environmental Protection. The wildfire forced both closures, including portions of U.S. Route 206, a north-south thoroughfare.
“The fire is in the southern part of the state forest that runs along a national road, Route 206, which is also near forests where there are no private residences in immediate danger,” Hajna told the Washington Post.
The sprawling Wharton State Forest is home to various outdoor recreation areas which were closed on Monday following the blaze.
Unlike California, which saw more than 10,000 structures damaged or destroyed during its historic 2020 wildfire season, New Jersey’s wildfires tend to occur in woodlands with fewer residences. , according to the state Department of Environmental Protection.
In 2019, the Spring Hill Fire burned 11,638 acres of Southeast Pine land in a remote section of Penn State Forest in Burlington County. New Jersey’s largest was the Warren Grove Wildfire in May 2007 which ignited after a flare was dropped during a military bombing exercise at the Warren Grove Bombing Range. This then burned 17,000 acres in the Pine Barrens area.
“Boy, this is the worst I’ve ever seen,” New Jersey resident Spike Wells said of the latest blaze during an interview with Asbury Park Press on Monday. Wells, 71, lives about two miles from where authorities blocked Highway 206 and operates a sawmill nearby.
“We’ve seen a lot of that,” Wells said. “Every year they have forest fires, but not like this. It’s awful.”
