Jones Road Wildfire Out of Control in New Jersey

The Jones Road Fire, which broke out on April 22 in Lacey Township, New Jersey, has escalated into one of the worst natural disasters in recent years. The fire, which began on the Greenwood Forest Wildlife Management Area, spread rapidly under extremely dry weather conditions, and was initially exacerbated by strong winds (gusts up to 40 mph) and drought, advancing northeastward at 0.8 kilometers per hour and creating a column of smoke tens of meters high. The New Jersey State Forestry and Fire Service deployed more than 200 firefighters, 15 bulldozers, and helicopters to provide aerial watering, but as of the evening of the 23rd, the fire was only 5% contained. Monitoring data showed that PM2.5 concentrations from the fire soared to 350 micrograms per cubic meter within a 5-kilometer radius of the fire, exceeding the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) safety standard by a factor of 11, leading to the issuance of an Air Quality Red Alert for Lacey Township and neighboring Barnegat Township.