Firefighters battle brush fire in Burlington County

NEW JERSEY (WTXF) Firefighters continue to battle a brush fire in Burlington County that has been burning for several hours.

The fire started around 2:30 Wednesday afternoon inside the McGuire Dix Lakehurst joint military base. None of the 42,000 who work there had to be evacuated. But some neighbors at this mobile home park did.

Deboroh Pancoast has lived in Browns Mills her entire life but never experienced this.

"I was scared. I left my animals here and I just left. I mean, I was so scared. My daughter was crying," she told FOX 29.

And Jerry Willits, missing part of a lung, was breathing in the smoke, getting thicker by the moment around 3 this afternoon.

"It got really, really thick at first, and the wind started picking up and that's when it really took off," he explained.

Observation helicopters flew above the fire to help the New Jersey Fire Service track its movement. Crews also used bulldozers and backfires to help contain it.

By late afternoon, most neighbors were back home, but were warned, the winds can shift, make a fire's path unpredictable.