Rainfall overnight slowed the spread of the Buckabear wildfire in West Milford, but state crews say work continues Friday to shore up containment lines.

Officials from New Jersey Forest Fire Service reported Friday that the blaze near the Sussex County border reached 200 acres but remained only 60% contained as it was on Thursday. Containment levels were expected to rise once fire crews complete an assessment of how the one inch of rainfall that fell overnight impacted fire activity, however, officials said.

Clinton Road, the infamous isolated byway in western West Milford, remains shut down almost its entire length due to the fire that started Tuesday, Sept. 2. Closed specifically between Van Orden Road and Goldfinch Lane, it is the only road that cuts through the densely forested water

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