Ocean County residents forced to flee Jones Road Wildfire return, but remain apprehensive
Most of the residents who were forced to evacuate due to the Jones Road Wildfire in Ocean County, New Jersey, were allowed to return home on Wednesday.
However, many of them said they didn't yet feel like they were out of the woods.
Lacey Township residents got out of Dodge
In the Forked River area of Lacey Township, Tom DePalo was seen hosing down his roof. He said he wasn't sure if it would do any good, but added it couldn't hurt.
"Extremely nervous. I was here last night doing the same thing. It was a lot worse," DePalo said.
With the wildfires inching closer Tuesday night, DePalo and all of his neighbors had no choice but to hit the road.
"They had buses staged. The police were up and down, knocking on doors, telling everybody, 'Grab what you can and go for right now.' That's what we did," Bill Schultz said.
"That's it. I went to Bayville, went to my best friend's. I didn't sleep all night. We got the notice that we could go back, but it's still very unsettling because, look at it," Aimee Zettel said.
"It's a nerve-wracking feeling"
By Wednesday morning, residents were told they could return home.
Firefighters created a fire line to prevent the flames from spreading to the homes in one neighborhood, and it worked, but the huge, dark plumes of smoke lingering overhead, and the ash raining down, was causing anxiety for many.
"It's a nerve-wracking feeling. Just because we could go back home, I didn't even put any of my stuff back in the house. It's like in the garage in bags just in case," Zettel said.
"It doesn't look good, but they keep telling us everything is all right. So as long as it ain't blowing this way, hopefully they'll get it under control," Schultz said.
DePalo said after seeing what happened in Los Angeles earlier this year, he'll try anything to save his home.
"You just don't think it could happen here, that it's never going to happen to you, and now you realize it can," DePalo said.
