Wildfire Power Outage Keeps Businesses Closed In Southern Ocean

SOUTHERN OCEAN COUNTY, NJ — As firefighters from at least four counties continued to battle an 11,500-acre wildfire on Wednesday, dozens of businesses in the fire zone were waiting to see when they could reopen.

While they waited, however, they were expressing gratitude for the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and paid firefighters who worked through the night to protect their communities from the Jones Road wildfire.

One business, Liberty Door and Awning in the Lacey Industrial Park, was destroyed by the fire. Its owner and employees were at the site early Wednesday, looking over the damaged property. It appeared to be the only business that suffered significant damage from the fire, however.

As of 12:30 p.m. there were nearly 19,000 homes and businesses still without electrical service after Jersey Central Power & Light shut down its Oyster Creek substation for the safety of firefighters, the company said.

JCP&L crews began to assess power lines and equipment for damage on Wednesday morning but the company said, "This is a time-consuming process to ensure that everything is safe and able to be re-energized."

The company said all of its customers in Barnegat Township, 98 percent of those in Ocean Township — known as Waretown — and three-quarters of its Lacey Township were without power initially. Of those, 6,700 customers in Lacey were restored by about 12:30 p.m., said Christopher Hoenig, a spokesman for JCP&L. In Waretown and Barnegat, it was estimated service would be restored about 4 p.m., he said, and the final cluster of customers around Oyster Creek should see service restored about 5 p.m..

While 5,000 people were evacuated from the area, those who stayed put found themselves driving up to the Lanoka Harbor section of Lacey or to Berkeley Township to find any open stores to grab coffee or a breakfast sandwich.

"I had to go to the McDonald's in Lanoka Harbor," said Teija Kirves, 62, who lives east of Route 9 in Waretown. "Nothing else was open."

Lacey Township police warned that traffic signals may not be consistent because they were running on backup power.

"Please be patient when driving through Lacey Township," police wrote. "All of the traffic lights are currently operating on backup power and may not be as consistent as usual. Please use caution when approaching an intersection that is not controlled by traffic signals."

By mid-day, restaurants were posting updates to social media, many of them filled with gratitude.

"No lunch today!" Caffrey's Tavern wrote on its Facebook page, adding that it was anticipating opening about 4 p.m. Wednesday. "We hope everyone was safe from the fire & thank all of our first responders!"

Wawa on Route 9 south of Lacey Road was closed as well, with cones blocking the driveway, and businesses were dark all along the road.

At Pies on Nine South, slices and pizzas were available for purchase and delivery, though power was out otherwise, the owners said.

"What a scary night!!! We are thankful that the evacuation has been lifted for our home and business. Thank YOU so much to all the firefighters and emergency personnel fighting this," the owners wrote. "We are praying for everyone!! Once our power is restored we hope to open and help our community!!!"

"Prayers for anyone affected with this wildfire," the owners of the IHOP in Forked River wrote. "Thanks to brave firefighters EMS workers and police officers who are putting their lives in harm's way to protect us."

The Lunchbox Waretown restaurant said it was remaining closed Wednesday because of the lack of electricity. "Please check daily for updates. Please continue to remain safe!"

The Lighthouse Tavern in Waretown was closed as well. Owner Jim Keady shared a video on Facebook Tuesday night and was assisting with traffic, but also was offering help to those in need of water.

In Barnegat, the Barnegat Animal Clinic said it had a small staff in the building and was open for veterinary emergencies only.

"Our hearts go out to all of those that have been affected during this tragedy," the clinic wrote.

JCP&L said it would post updates on power restoration on its outages map: https://outages-nj.firstenergycorp.com. Customers also can receive outage text alerts; please text REG to 544487 to sign up.

"We appreciate your continued patience and understanding as we work to safely restore power to customers," JCP&L said.