Over 3,000 evacuations ordered and portion of Garden State Highway is closed as wildfire explodes in New Jersey
A fast-moving wildfire in New Jersey expanded to 3,200 acres Tuesday afternoon, causing over 3,000 evacuations and threatening more than 1,300 structures while also closing a portion of the Garden State Highway in the southern portion of the state.
The fire started in the Greenwood Forest Wildlife Management Area of Ocean County Tuesday morning and 5% of the fire has been contained, the New Jersey Forest Fire Service said. The cause is under investigation.
No injuries have been reported, but several businesses in an industrial park in Lacey Township have burned, Ocean County Undersheriff Jon Lombardi told CNN. It doesn't appear any homes have suffered major damage, he said.
The fire is already having impacts on the state, with over 25,000 power outages recorded in Ocean County, according to PowerOutage.US. A nearby chunk of the Garden State Highway, a main artery in the state, is closed as well, New Jersey State Police said.
Thick, black clouds filled the sky, prompting a public health advisory in the county as air quality worsened. Some buildings appear to have already been burnt as firefighters work to protect structures, aerials from CNN affiliate WPVI show.
The fire comes as New Jersey is under an official drought warning, with 'well-below average precipitation throughout the winter,' the state said in a news release last month. Approximately 7,000 acres of New Jersey's forests are burnt each year, with Tuesday's fire making up over almost half of the yearly total.
While wildfires aren't as common as in other areas of the country, the region is no stranger to the pheonomenon. The Jennings Creek Fire burned several thousand acres in New Jersey and New York in November, prompting heavy response from both states.
Winds Tuesday afternoon consistently gusted between 15 and 25 mph, but are expected to decrease later tonight. Dry weather is expected for the remainder of the week, but winds are expected to be much weaker, at only 5 to 10 mph.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
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