EVESHAM, N.J. — Firefighters were battling blazes in the parched New Jersey Pinelands on Thursday, where they say conditions are the driest they have been in at least 120 years.

A forest fire in the Philadelphia suburb of Evesham forced the evacuation of a dozen homes on Thursday and was threatening dozens of other residences. The blaze was discovered Thursday morning and had burned completely uncontained across less than half a square mile (less than 2 square kilometers) by early afternoon, the New Jersey Forest Fire Service said.

Crews were battling another forest fire Thursday about an hour away in Jackson Township that was discovered a day earlier.

And late Thursday afternoon, a third, smaller blaze broke out in Glassboro, another Philadelphia suburb. Few details were immediately available on that fire.No injuries or property damage have been reported in any of the fires.

“This is the driest we’ve been in the agency’s history,” said Jeremy Webber, a supervising fire warden.

— The New York Times