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Another wildfire is scorching a South Jersey state forest

The wildfire comes one week after the start of one in Wharton State Forest, possibly originating from an illegal campfire, which consumed about 13,500 acres., making it the state's largest since 2007.

Last week, a fire at Wharton State Forest consumed about 13,500 acres, the largest wildfire in the state since 2007. Firefighters Larry Rosenberg (from left), William Zazenski, and Robbie Knapp, hose down hot areas that remained on June 21 near the Batsto Village historic site.
Last week, a fire at Wharton State Forest consumed about 13,500 acres, the largest wildfire in the state since 2007. Firefighters Larry Rosenberg (from left), William Zazenski, and Robbie Knapp, hose down hot areas that remained on June 21 near the Batsto Village historic site.Read moreTOM GRALISH / Staff Photographer

More than 120 acres of the Brendan T. Byrne State Forest were on fire Sunday night, the second wildfire at a state forest in South Jersey in a week.

As of 8 p.m. Sunday, what was named the Brick Yard Fire was 0% contained and was burning in a section of the forest that straddles Burlington and Ocean Counties, where seven structures were threatened, the New Jersey Forest Fire Service reported.

Crews were setting backfires to help with containment. No injuries were reported.

At 37,242 acres, Brendan Byrne is the second-largest state forest in New Jersey, and is part of the 1.1 million-acre Pinelands National Reserve.

The Pinelands also includes the 110,000-acre Wharton State Forest, where a wildfire that started last Sunday had consumed about 13,500 acres in Gloucester, Burlington and Atlantic Counties by Tuesday, when it was declared 95% contained. It was the state’s biggest wildfire since 2007.

Investigators were looking into the possibility that an illegal campfire started the Wharton fire. Conditions were ideal for the spread: unusually low humidity, high winds, and dry tinder.

The origins of the Brendan Byrne fire, said to be off Pasadena Road in Woodland and Manchester Townships, and first reported by the fire service around 5 p.m. Sunday, were not immediately known. Rain is in the forecast for Monday.