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WATERFORD TOWNSHIP, N.J. (CBS) -- A wildfire at the Wharton State Forest in Waterford Township, Camden County has grown to 1,700 acres, the New Jersey Forest Fire Service said Tuesday.

The wildfire, named the "Dragway Wildfire," is 95% contained and burning in the area of the Atco Dragway and Jackson Road.

On Monday, the NJFFS said it's expected to take crews two to three days to contain the fire.

"Here in New Jersey, just seems like we're having wildfires 12 months a year, 365 days a year," Bill Donnelly, the assistant state fire warden, said.

The NJFFS said the wildfire's containment area includes land in Medford and Shamong in Burlington County.

Crews are improving containment lines and preparing to utilize a backfiring operation in order to burn fuel ahead of the main body of fire. The fire was first reported by the Medford fire tower and divided with the Apple Pie Hill fire tower, the NJFFS said.

No structures are threatened, but the NJFFS said Monday that Jackson Road will remain closed until further notice. The NJFFS is asking motorists to watch for firefighters working on the side of the road once the road reopens.

The NJFFS said Forest Fire Staff will remain on scene to monitor control lines and address areas of concern until the area gets significant precipitation.

Smoke might be visible for "an extended period of time" while crews work to put out the fire, according to the NJFFS. Drivers should also remain cautious of the smoke.

Tim Maguire, who lives two blocks away from the fire, says while wildfires are always in the back of his mind since he lives in the Pinelands, but he's never seen it quite like this.

"I was a little concerned last year when they had huge amounts of wildfires, but here we are now," Maguire said.

The NJFFS says this fire marks the 13th major wildfire just this year. Compare that to last year at this time – where there were only two major wildfires.

"I think it's just because it's been dry and people have gotten complacent. People need to be a little more careful when they're out in the forest with things as dry as they are," Donnelly said.

Donnelly says his crews are certainly tired. Heading into the fall, the NJFFS remains alert.

"Based on long range forecasts and everything, I don't know if there's an end in sight any time soon based on our meteorologists and stuff they are saying. They're looking that we can go into a dry fall," Donnelly said.

Neighbors like Maguire thank the NJFFS and local aid for all their doing to keep the community safe.

"These guys are pros," Maguire said. "They know what they're doing."

The cause of the fire remains under investigation and no injuries were reported.

WATERFORD TOWNSHIP, New Jersey -- The New Jersey Forest Fire Service is battling a wildfire that began burning in the Wharton State Forest on Sunday.

Officials say the flames broke out in the area of Jackson Road near the Atco Dragway in Waterford Township. It has since spread to both Camden and Burlington counties.

It was first reported just after 2:45 p.m.

The wildfire was 100 acres in size and 0% contained as of Sunday night.

Assistant State Fire Warden Bill Donnelly told Action News that residents in the area do not need to be concerned by the flames.

Donnelly also said no injuries were reported and there were no evacuations.

Roughly 40 firefighters were sent into the state forest to try to control the wildfire.

Crews are now in the process of building containment lines to keep it from burning further.

Donnelly hopes to have containment lines up by Monday morning.

"Right now, things are in our favor. The wind has settled down, the sun is in. Basically, the conditions to work in are favorable for us. I don't anticipate any problems with what our plan is," said Donnelly.

He also said there is a contingency plan in place in case of an emergency.

Roads may be closed on Monday while crews work to keep the flames under control.

The cause of the fire is under investigation.

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A joint venture between Wharton Industrial and Walton Street Capital has sold Twinbridge Industrial Park, a 1.3-million-square-foot industrial portfolio in Pennsauken, for $194.5 million, in one of the largest industrial deals in New Jersey this year.

An affiliate of New York-based DRA Advisors bought the 37-building portfolio. The average building is 35,000 square feet.

In 2020, New York-based Wharton and Chicago's Walton bought the portfolio from The Bloom Organization. At the time, it totaled 32 buildings and 1.16 million square feet. Wharton and Walton bought a few additional buildings since then to add to it. The site is 10 miles from Philadelphia's Center City.

“We really believed in the real estate close to Philadelphia,” Wharton Industrial Chairman Peter C. Lewis said. “It’s irreplaceable. You can’t build this anymore. There’s no more land left and you can’t get approvals. The proximity to Philadelphia is perfect."

The industrial park is close to routes 73,130, Interstate 295, and both the Betsy Ross and Tacony-Palmyra bridges into Philadelphia. PepsiCo leases space at 8275 N. Crescent Blvd. Rental car company Enterprise leases space at 9345 N. Crescent Blvd.

Properties also include three buildings totaling 153,400 square feet at 809 Hylton Road, 815 Hylton Road and 1045 Thomas Busch Memorial Highway that Wharton acquired with Walton Street in 2021.

Lewis declined to share how much Wharton Industrial paid for the Twinbridge Industrial Park portfolio. In recent years, the Philadelphia region’s industrial market has seen low vacancies and record rents, increasing the value of properties like the one Wharton just sold.

Wharton increased rents for tenants from $5 or $6 per square foot up to $12 per square foot, a testament to the high demand and low supply of the Philadelphia industrial market. The portfolio is now 97% occupied. On average, the 37 buildings were built in 1983.

Tenants include Lockheed Martin, Sprint, PepsiCo’s SodaStream and BlueTriton, which was previously known as Nestle Waters.

“It’s a mixture of credit, but a lot of it is decades-old companies or family businesses or small businesses that just pay their rent and they’re good tenants and they service the market,” Lewis said. “I love that kind of tenant.”

Wharton planned to sell the portfolio eventually, but Lewis wasn't sure of the timing. Given that high interest rates have limited buyer pools, Lewis initially thought of waiting. Once interest rates subside, there could be more potential buyers yielding a higher price.

But other sellers of comparable properties had a similar mentality. Since few comparable properties are selling, brokers convinced Lewis the portfolio could generate competition among buyers, making it an advantageous time to test the market. Lewis followed their advice and closed the deal despite the challenging financing environment. By being one of the few sellers in the market, Wharton was able to more easily attract the few buyers looking for deals.

CBRE’s Brad Ruppel, Mike Hines and Liam Fahey along with Colliers’ Marc Isdaner and Ian Richman represented Wharton Industrial. Isdaner and Richman brokered the 2020 sale as well.

When Wharton bought the portfolio in the summer of 2020, Lewis said there was uncertainty because of the Covid-19 pandemic. How long it would last and how it would affect the economy was still to be determined.

Lewis believed in Philadelphia and the fundamentals that made it a promising investment.

“The market is very tight,” Lewis said. “What you had historically in Philadelphia, and this is not uncommon in a lot of markets, is long-term owners who were just happy filling the buildings. No one really wanted to take the lead in pressing too hard on rents. They were doing well as it was. We didn’t fall into that school of thought.”

Wharton Industrial was formed in 2017 and owns or is developing 11 million square feet of industrial space worth more than $1 billion in transactions. Wharton, for example, is currently developing a 1.5 million-square-foot light industrial project in Mesa, Arizona.

We’ve gotten very spoiled with all that New Jersey grocery stores have to offer lately. Grocery shopping is no longer about simply picking out apples with no bruises and checking out which cereal is on sale.

Modern grocery shopping in NJ has become a vastly different experience and all of the new grocery stores popping up all over the place have only served to make competitors up their games.

It’s not enough anymore just to be a great supermarket that carries a lot of stuff and has good customer service. Today you’ve got to be all things to all people.

You’ve got to keep up on the latest food trends and make sure you’re satisfying every culinary curiosity. So many of the aforementioned new stores have come to town and have accomplished that goal. But up until now, a lot of New Jersey’s classic grocery stores, the ones even your grandma shopped at, have fallen behind.

Enter ShopRite of Wharton, NJ.

ShopRite of Wharton recently debuted a concept called Fresh to Table, which customers have already been experiencing at ShopRites in Bloomfield, Greenwich, Burlington, Newton, Sparta, Byram, Mansfield and Succasunna, among other locations.

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With Fresh to Table, customers can find easy-to-prepare ingredients that will make you say goodbye to your meal subscription boxes. The unique, on-trend foods you’ll find there are the ones you’re looking for today.

And the best part is that these fresh-to-table items are available in grab-and-go formats to accommodate the needs of busy New Jerseyans.

ShopRite is calling this a “store within a store” concept. It’s so important now to make things both fresh and easy because it will make for great convenience, too.

Busy because they have ready-to-cook items, ready-to-heat and ready-to-eat meals with prepped ingredients. It’s perfect for people who want to eat and also feed their families, fresh and healthy food but don’t have as much time to plan meals, and to execute them, as perhaps cooks did a generation ago. It’s a one-stop shop.

And of course, if you don’t want to stop, its fresh produce meals, and snacks, can be ordered through ShopRite’s online grocery store.

Let’s hope that this debut marks just the beginning of a trend like this across more supermarkets.

Opinions expressed in the post above are those of New Jersey 101.5 talk show host Judi Franco only.

You can now listen to Dennis & Judi — On Demand! Hear New Jersey’s favorite best friends anytime, anywhere and any day of the week. Download the Dennis & Judi show wherever you get podcasts, on our free app, or listen right now.

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LOOK: Food and Personal Care Shortages We Could See In 2023

Learn about the 13 potential shortages that could impact stores in 2023, from produce and meat to snacks and beverages.

Gallery Credit: Cooper Fox (B98.5) and Cameron (The Breeze 103.9)

Jen Gunter / Unsplash

Oranges

It was late last year that we started hearing about the potential for a shortage of oranges. The reason, according to CNN, was poor weather and orange plant diseases during the latest growing season.

Maddie Hamilton / Usplash

Beef

As we have all seen over the last few years, the price of beef has gone through the roof. And, we're not just talking about higher end cuts, either. Even ground beef has climbed. As we are seeing a reduction in the amount of beef available, prices could climb even higher. According to the Washington Times, a drought in Texas, which reduced the amount of grass available for grazing, has led to a shortage of beef.

Alan King / Unsplash

Pet Food

The reason we could see a shortage of pet food is not because of the food itself, but because we will likely see a shortage of the aluminum used in the manufacture of the cans.

Nico Jacobs / Unsplash

Champagne

According to The Daily Meal, because there was a drop in the consumption of champagne during the pandemic, the organization that controls champagne production ordered a reduction in the amount that is manufactured. Because of that, we could see a drop in the amount available.

Adam Wilson / Unsplash

Beer

According to The Daily Meal, we could see a shortage of beer because of the products needed for carbonation (in certain types) and, as with pet food, the aluminum needed to make the cans.

Chris Deluvio / Unsplash

Corn

Corn is one of the most useful crops in the United States. Not only is it used for eating, it is also used for corn syrup (the sweetener), corn oil, and more. The US Department of Agriculture is reporting there was a 4% drop in the crop between 2021 and 2022. This could lead to shortage on all corn based products.

Sorin Gheoghita / Unsplash

Butter

The reduction in milk production has led to a drop in the amount of available butter. It is also the reason why we have seen a price jump in the cost of butter. Maybe it is time to switch to margarine?

Mae Mu / Unsplash

Pasta

According to Mashed, a worldwide grain shortage is likely to lead to a shortage of pasta. On top of that, people love to stockpile pasta because it is shelf stable and easy to prepare.

Ian Dooley / Unsplash

Ice Cream

As with butter, the drop in milk production could lead to a shortage of one of our favorite treats.

Jakob Kapusnak / Unsplash

Eggs

For the last few months, we have been hearing about the massive price increases on the cost of eggs. One of the main reasons for this is the lack of available eggs. According to the CDC, the shortage is due in large part to a massive outbreak of the Avian Flu.

Victoria Shes / Unsplash

Soup

You could have a hard time finding soup in 2023. Again, not because of the ingredients needed to make soup, but because there are shortage in the aluminum needed to make the cans.

Fikiri Rasyid / Unsplash

Specific Items

Some listeners are reporting very specific things missing from store shelves. It is almost like companies have chosen to only make the most generic versions of products.

Peter Kalonji / Unsplash

Makeup

According to HBW Insight, the ingredients needed to make makeup could be hard to come by this year. As a result, we could see a shortage in the amount of available makeup.

UP NEXT: Here are 50 of your favorite retail chains that no longer exist.

WATERFORD - The New Jersey Forest Fire Service has reported "significant progress" in bringing a Wharton State Forest wildfire under control, even as the blaze grew to 1,500 acres and spread from Waterford to Medford and Shamong.

As of 10:30 a.m. Tuesday, the blaze was 85 percent contained, the fire service said.

But the agency added, "An observational flight this morning indicated that there are internal pockets of unburned fuel that will continue to burn today."

It said no buildings were threatened by the fire, which had been 75 percent contained at 9:30 p.m. Monday.

The fire's containment area includes forested land in Medford and Shamong and some along Jackson Road in Waterford, where flames broke out Sunday night near the former Atco Dragway.

Jackson Road was closed shortly from Atsion Road to Tremont Avenue before noon Monday and will remain closed until further notice, the fire service said.

No other road closings were expected.

Camden County officials urged motorists to find alternate routes around the fire.

The county's department of public safety was ready "to support the state with any needs they have while they fight this wildfire in Waterford,” County Commissioner Jonathan Young, the agency's liaison, said Monday.

“Nevertheless, and maybe more importantly, we need drivers to stay off Jackson Road in that area, so the firefighters can do their work and (to benefit) the health and welfare anyone entering the area by car.”

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When initially spotted early Sunday night, the fire was estimated at 100 acres along Jackson Road.

By 10 a.m. Monday it had spread to another 400 acres. A few hours later, it had tripled in size.

The Fire Service said crews used "a backfiring operation (Monday) to burn fuel ahead of the main body of fire throughout the day."

The agency said the fire was reported around 5:30 p.m. by its Medford firetower, then was triangulated by the Apple Pie Hill tower in Tabernacle.

Atco Dragway, also on Jackson Road, closed abruptly in mid-July. It announced the shutdown in a Facebook post that gave no reason for the track's demise after 63 years.

Visit https://twitter.com/njdepforestfire for other information.

This story will be updated.