The blaze began Saturday when lightning struck a tree in the tinder-dry Pinelands west of the Garden State Parkway in Ocean County, said Bert Plante, a spokesman for the state Forest Fire Service.
It grew overnight and burned 890 acres before being contained on all sides Sunday afternoon.
It is now burning in a swampy area virtually inaccessible to firefighters and heavy equipment but does not pose a threat to homes or property, Plante said.
Although the fire is contained, it still has not been declared under control.
"Control with this fire is going to take quite some time," Plante said. "Maybe we'll get lucky and those thunderstorms will roll over the area and give it a good soaking. Some of them are supposed to be severe."
The fire burned a section of the Pinelands near one of the worst fires in the area's history, a 2007 blaze that burned more than 17,000 acres. That fire was touched off by a National Guard pilot who dropped flares too low on a day when conditions were bone-dry at a nearby Air Force target range.
No injuries were reported in the most recent fire.
