A brush fire erupted in New Jersey Tuesday, exploding from a patch of flame to 8,500 acres, and forcing the evacuation of thousands of residents.
The Jones Road Wildfire is burning near South Jersey’s Barnegat Township in Ocean County, and has since spread to the Pine Barrens area.
Officials have shut down roughly 17 miles of the state’s busiest highway, the Garden State Parkway, near Waretown because of the blaze.
The fire was just 5 percent contained as of Tuesday at 8 p.m. It was first reported Tuesday at 10 a.m. in the Greenwood Forest Wildlife Management Area. The cause of the blaze was not yet known. An investigation is ongoing.
Officials have issued mandatory evacuation orders for 3,000 residents as the fire threatens an estimated 1,300 buildings.
Some 13,000 people in the area are also without power, according to Jersey Central Power and Light, after the Forest Fire Service asked the agency to de-energize all lines in and out of the area.
No injuries were reported as of Tuesday evening.
Winds have “been in favor of the vast majority of the NJ population” and are blowing smoke “eastward toward the Atlantic Ocean,” Gloucester County Emergency Management said in a statement.
“Our hearts & prayers are with all of those affected, and to the statewide personnel that have responded to assist,” the agency said.
Fire engines, bulldozers and ground crews drawing personnel from multiple communities were on the scene battling the blaze. Local officials have opened a shelter at Southern Regional High School.
New Jersey is under a 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 burn each year, with Tuesday’s fire already surpassing the yearly average.
