Green Jersey

South Jersey wildfire chars 1,800 acres

A wildfire has burned more than 1,800 acres in a remote part of the Pine Barrens.

The burned acreage is in Wharton State Forest, the 110,000-acre-plus forest that borders Burlington and Atlantic counties.

The fire started yesterday afternoon in an area south of Shamong in Camden County and quickly spread east, jumping Route 206 late last night and shutting it down. (Part of the highway is expected to remain closed until at least tomorrow morning; the Star-Ledger says a stretch of it was reopened in Hammonton.)

Officials said windy conditions helped the fire, the cause of which is unknown, to spread.