HAMMONTON - Friday morning began with an unusual blackout for Jim Austin and many other Hamm-onton residents.
Austin, owner of the Blueberry Factory on Bellevue Avenue, said when he woke at 7 a.m., the smoke from the smoldering, four-day-old fire in Wharton State Forest was drifting over the township. The clouds were so thick he couldn't see the house across the street, and he could smell the burning scent inside the house and garage.
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"It was so bad that my son (Jimmy, 11), looked up at the sky and he asked if it was the sun or the moon. ... It was silver. You can look right at it. It was like an eclipse," Austin said. The driving conditions were so bad Austin could barely see the cars and the telephone poles.
The flames, which started Tuesday and have burned about 1,950 acres, are about 70 percent contained, said Frank Pallante, assistant division fire warden for the state Forest Fire Service. The remote parts of the cedar swamps, where it is difficult to bring firefighters and equipment, are still burning.
Pallante said they are monitoring the fire and there could be more road closures on Saturday, depending on the weather conditions. He added that the cause of the blaze is still under investigation, there were no more evacuations, and no one was injured.
Two other unrelated forest fires cropped up, affecting 10 acres on Piney Hollow Road and Route 322 in Monroe Township, Gloucester County on Thursday, and a quarter-acre on Piney Hollow Road in Winslow Township, Camden County, on Friday. Pallante said both fires were put out and they are under investigation.
The smoke was pushed to the ground, a strange effect Pallante credited to the ever-shifting wind and cold temperatures. It made driving so hazardous that the Hammonton school district closed for the day and Route 206 shut down sporadically due to poor visibility.
While the heavy clouds cleared later that morning, Austin said he lost some business due to the fumes and the heavier burning smell earlier in the week. "More people wanted to stay inside, or get out of town to avoid the smoke as much as possible," he said.
The smell of burnt wood lingered in the air of downtown Hammonton on Friday afternoon. But it was the morning commute that was dangerous for many drivers.
Loretta Rehmann, president of the Hammonton school board, said the district closed Friday because the heavy fog and smoke made it impossible to put school buses safely on the road in the morning. She called the smoke "an act of God and nature," and she didn't anticipate any more school closings next week. "Hopefully, the rain will clear out the area," Rehmann said.
Keith Stuart, a carpenter from Atco, said there was "zero visibility" when he was driving on the White Horse Pike between the Ancora Bridge and Bellvue Avenue on his way to work. "If you were at the traffic light, you couldn't see the traffic light," he said. "Everyone was going two miles per hour."
Joe Fondacaro, a Hammonton resident who owns two hardware stores, said the smoke was so bad that cars were running the red light at the intersection of Fairview Avenue and the White Horse Pike. "It was so bad you couldn't see the traffic light," Fondacaro said. "I had my window down to hear the roar of the engines."
Fondacaro, who has three children and lives near Hammonton Middle School, added that it was good the school district closed for safety reasons.
In the late afternoon, several diners sat for a meal and lined up for takeout orders at Marcello's Pizza and Restaurant. Brittany Papale, a waitress, said it was slow for a Friday night, but there wasn't a huge difference in the number of customers.
Mike Gorse, a meteorologist from the National Weather Service, said the light east winds and cold morning temperature in the 20s and 30s on Friday prevented the smoke from rising. Warmer air later in the day allowed the smoke to go up into the atmosphere.
The on and off rain predicted for most of Saturday could help stop the remaining fires, according to Gorse. "On the flip side, there will increasing wind, but it should be occurring when it's raining, so it should keep any remaining hot spots in check," he said.