The fire was reported around 1:30 p.m. along Route 30 near Delilah Road.
Several acres have burned and residents of nearby houses and the California Ave. Apartments were evacuated as a precaution.
"I couldn't get home and I saw the smoke and I told my wife 'Looks like the smoke is coming from near our house,'" said John Bettis of Pleasantville.
Back fires were set to remove the fuel and keep the flames from spreading. Rescuers say the flames were tough to put out.
"It kept shifting from one direction to the other. We would start to get something under control, then it would take off in the other direction," said Chief Butch Stewart of the Absecon Fire Dept.
No injuries have been reported from this fire.
A fire official tells Action News a freight train from Southern Jersey railroad, which runs between Cape May and Winslow, started the fire. An investigation is underway.
Officials say there some 15 to 20 fires, large and small, along the railroad tracks from Pleasantville to Pomona, a stretch of several miles.
Officials say this is the height of the forest fire season, which runs from mid-March to mid-May.
