Wildfire burns at NJ military range in Pinelands

A wildfire fire burned 600 acres at a New Jersey Air National Guard facility on Tuesday.

The New Jersey Forest Fire Service first reported the fire early Tuesday afternoon at the Warren Grove Air to Ground Range along Route 539 on the border of Burlington and Ocean counties. It was 50% contained as of 8 p.m. Winds blowing out of the south sent the smell of smoke into areas north of the fire.

No structures are threatened and no roads are closed.

Little Egg Harbor Township police warned of "sounds relating to military weapons activity" between 10 a.m. and 11 a.m. on Tuesday but did not disclose the specific activity.

The temperature was 95 degrees at a weather station in nearby Barnegat early Tuesday afternoon as firefighting efforts started, according to New Jersey 101.5 Chief Meteorologist Dan Zarrow.

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Heavy rain helps?

The impact of heavy rain on efforts to extinguish the fire won’t be known until an update later Wednesday morning. A quick burst of heavy rain accompanied a thunderstorm in the area around 10:15 p.m., according to Zarrow.

He said the nearby Oswego Lake station of the NJ Weather Network registered 0.35 inches of rain.

An approximate half-inch of rain over the area of last week’s Tea Time Hill Wildfire helped that fire reach 100 percent containment, according to Department of Environmental Protection spokeswoman Caryn Shinske.

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15,000 acres+ burned in 2007

The 9,400-acre facility's mission is to "provide a quality combat training environment for all military air and ground combat forces," according to its website, adding that "no incendiary munitions (flares, tracers) are used at the range, only inert practice munitions that are non-explosive."

A fire at the range in May 2007 consumed 15,500 acres and is the largest wildfire since 1995 in New Jersey.

About 24 square miles of forest were ruined, five homes were destroyed and 50 others were significantly damaged. About 6,000 people were forced to flee from Stafford and Barnegat. About 600 firefighters and seven aircraft helped put out the fire. Two members of New Jersey’s Forestry Service personnel were injured.