No Sign Of Fires A Few Towns Away

A few towns away from the brush fires on Tuesday evening, one couldn't tell that people's homes were in danger. I drove to Manchester around 4:45pm to attend an event at a senior housing development. The parkway was open and running smoothly. There was a brush fire burning in Waretown, but nobody knew at that time how bad it was going to get. By the time the event was getting ready to start at 6:00pm, it was reported that the parkway was closed from exit 63 to exit 80. I was near exit 83. Needless to say, I didn't stay for the event and took route 70 home as they were beginning to evacuate some homes close to me. As I passed the exit 74 entrance to the Garden State Parkway South, I saw two cop cars blocking the entrance as flames were reaching crazy heights about 100 feet from their cars.