MANCHESTER, N.J. • Firefighters in New Jersey were confronted by 200-foot flames as they battled a wildfire tearing through 6 square miles of the state’s Pine Barrens, raining down embers and prompting evacuations but leaving no one injured and property intact, officials said Wednesday.

The blaze in Manchester, near Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, forced the evacuation of about 170 homes late Tuesday, with police and fire officials going door-to-door to ask people to take temporary shelter at a nearby high school. Helicopters were filling large containers with water from a nearby lake Wednesday and dropping it on the flames.

“We saw the red glow in the sky, and every time the wind would shift, it got worse,” said Jason Cylenica, who lives in the neighborhood closest to the fire. His wife, Cynthia Tiemper, said burning embers were landing in their back yard Tuesday night, making them decide to evacuate even before the fire department knocked on their door at 10:45 p.m.

“We left so fast I didn’t even bring socks,” she said. “It was like, ‘You grab the dog, I’ll grab this and let’s go.’ When we got back here this morning and saw that everything was still here, it was like prayers had been answered.”

The same conditions that helped spread the New Jersey fire were present in at least 20 states on Wednesday, according to the National Weather Service. The agency issued “red flag warnings” in virtually every region of the country due to warm, dry conditions and stronger-than-usual winds which combine to increase the risk of wildfires, spokesperson John Moore said.

A massive 2,500-acre forest fire burns in Ocean County, N.J., early Wednesday. The blaze forced the evacuation of about 170 homes.

New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection via AP