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New Jersey forest fire prompts evacuations and closes a major highway

Published: 23 Apr. 2025, 15:22

Smoke rises from a wildfire on April 23 near Barnegat Township, New Jersey, United States. [AP/YONHAP]

A wildfire burning in New Jersey on Tuesday forced some residents to evacuate and closed a stretch of a major highway.

The Garden State Parkway, one of New Jersey's busiest highways, was closed between Barnegat and Lacey townships, The Press of Atlantic City reported.

More than 1,300 structures were threatened and power was out to most of Barnegat Township, authorities said. A mandatory evacuation was ordered for an unknown number of structures in Lacey Township. Shelters were open at a church and high school.

The fire in the Greenwood Forest Wildlife Management Area burned more than 13.2 square miles (8,448 acres) of land, fire officials said.

The blaze, burning in Ocean and Lacey Townships in Ocean County, was only about 10 percent contained Tuesday night, the New Jersey Fire Service said. The cause of the fire was under investigation.

There were no immediate reports of injuries.

The Jersey Central Power and Light Company posted on the social platform X that it cut power to about 25,000 customers at the request of the Forest Fire Service and the wildfire’s command post Tuesday evening. It doesn't expect to restore the power before Wednesday.

“This is for the safety of crews battling the fire,” the company said.

Debi Schaffer was caught in gridlocked traffic after evacuating with her two dogs while her husband agreed to stay with their 22 chickens.

“I wanted to take them in the car with me; can you imagine 22 chickens in a car?" she told the newspaper.

Around her Waretown house it was “like a war zone,” she said, describing smoke, sirens and the buzz of helicopters.

The site of the fire is near an alpaca farm. The farm said in a Facebook post that the property wasn’t threatened and all of the animals were safe.

The blaze is the second major forest fire in the region in less than a week.

AP