A blazing bonfire that goes by the cool name of Jimmy’s Waterhole has gotten a tad too excited and decided to take a stroll, leading to a mass exodus and some roadblocks. This fiery fellow has charred through 2,500 acres of federal, state, and private property in Manchester Township, in Ocean County, which incidentally is about 50 miles east of Philadelphia (in case you were curious). New Jersey’s finest Forest Fire Squad gave us an early update on Wednesday.

Manchester Township, by the way, boasts a population of about 45,000, according to the latest census data (wouldn’t want them to feel left out of the story now, would we?).

Officials, sounding slightly flustered, announced that 170 structures had to be hastily abandoned and another 75 were looking mighty toasty by Wednesday’s wee hours. The fire, being a bit bashful, had only been 10% contained. Consequently, the authorities had to shut down portions of Route 539 and Route 70, which runs from Philadelphia east towards the coast.

The Forest Fire Service, in true gossip columnist fashion, sent out an alert about the blaze on Tuesday night. Within hours, they reported that 500 acres were burnt to a crisp and that crews were attempting some backfiring maneuvers to contain this unruly party-crasher. By Wednesday’s dawn, Jimmy’s Waterhole had expanded its fiery footprint to 2,500 acres (talk about a growth spurt!).