Forest Fire Burns in CamCo

A wildfire burned 700 acres in Wharton State Forest and forced the shutdown of an electric transmission line, but firefighters expected to have it contained by Monday evening, officials said.

No injuries were reported, and no homes were damaged. The fire started about 9 a.m. in a remote section of this Pinelands community in Camden County, said Bert Plante, assistant division fire warden for the New Jersey Forest Fire Service.

Plante said firefighters set up a defensive position to protect about 100 homes located on the opposite side of the power line from the fire, but no evacuations were ordered. About 100 firefighters were battling the blaze.

Smoke pushed by 15 mph winds filled the neighborhood around the homes, and Waterford schools held students after dismissal until they were picked up by their parents.

Electric power was rerouted around the shut-down transmission line, and there were no outages, Plante said.

Plante said about 1.5 inches of rain in the area late last week probably prevented the blaze from being worse.

Author: 6 ABC-AP