Barnegat Township, NJ (AP) – A rapidly evolving forest fire burned in the New Jersey pine barns, but those responsible raised on Wednesday Previous evacuation orders And a section of a major highway that has been closed due to the fire has reopened.
More than 1,300 structures have been threatened and around 3,000 inhabitants have been evacuated, said the New Jersey Forest Fire Service. The officials said on Wednesday morning that the evacuation orders had been lifted. The shelters were open in two high schools, according to the Barnegat police service.
The Garden State Parkway, one of the busiest highways in New Jersey, reopened Wednesday morning after closing a section of about 7 miles (12 kilometers) in the southern part of the state.
The fire services planned to give an update during a press conference late Wednesday morning. The video published by the state agency supervising firefighters showed clouds of white and black smoke, intense flames engulfing pines and firefighters by dushing a charred structure.
Forest fires are a common event in pine barns, a state of 1.1 million acres (445,000 hectares) and a reserve protected by the federal government of the size of the Grand Canyon being halfway between Philadelphia to the west and the Atlantic coast to the east.
The area had been under a serious drought Until recently, when the rains in early spring have helped to alleviate the region.
The Central Power and Light Company jersey has reduced electricity to around 25,000 customers at the request of the Forest Fire Service and the command post of Wildfire on Tuesday evening, including thousands in the canton of Barnegat. The company said on X that it does not expect to restore power before Wednesday.
“It is for the safety of the crews that fight against the fire,” said the company.
The fire in the Greenwood forest management area has burned more than 13 square miles (34 square kilometers) of land, fire officials said.
The fire, burning in the cantons of Ocean and Lacey in the County of Ocean, was only contained in 10% Tuesday evening, the fire service said. The cause of the fire was the subject of an investigation.
There was no immediate report of injuries.
Debi Schaffer was taken in traffic on the ground after having evacuated with her two dogs while her husband agreed to stay with their 22 chickens, Atlantic City’s press reported.
“I wanted to take them to the car with me; Can you imagine 22 chickens in a car? ” She told the newspaper.
Around her house in Waretown, it was “like a war zone,” she said, describing the smoke, the sirens and the helicopter buzz.
The fire site is near an alpaca farm. The farm said in an article on Facebook that the property was not threatened and that all animals were safe.
The fire is the second major fire in the region’s forest in less than a week.
