Wildfire in South Jersey that had grown to 180 acres, threatening homes, is contained

The New Jersey Forest Fire Service reported Saturday afternoon that a brush fire in Medford, Burlington County that had grown to 180 acres and threatened homes was 100% contained but that smoke conditions in the area were expected to linger into the overnight hours.

The so-called Flatiron Wildfire, near the intersection of Elderberry Drive and Jackson Road, was reported as encompassing 120 acres around 8 a.m. but just after noon, the Forest Fire Service announced that the affected area had increased to 180 acres.

With the winds blowing from the east, the Fire Service said the worst smoke conditions would affect areas just to the west of the fire site, and they could affect visibility. Jackson Road remained closed to through traffic.

The Fire Service said staff would remain at the scene.

The fire, the second in South Jersey in as many days, had threatened four homes, officials said.

While fighting a larger forest fire Friday in Bass River State Forest, officials closed the Garden State Parkway for several hours, but that fire did not threaten houses. The Forest Fire Service’s latest update said that 5,000-acre fire was contained.

That one was the largest wildfire of the year so far. It followed one in April in Ocean County that raced through 3,859 acres in an area of heavily forested South Jersey that was rimmed by homes, businesses and military installations. That “Jimmy’s Waterhole fire,” so named by the Forest Fire Service, took days to contain.

The region has been experiencing a historic dry period, The Inquirer reported Thursday. Philly had its driest May on record with just 0.24 inches of rain measured at Philadelphia International Airport — 8% of normal. Across the river in Burlington County, where officials now work to extinguish the Flatiron Wildfire, May rainfall was about 70% below normal at 1.2 inches.