Evacuation orders lifted and portion of Garden State Parkway reopens as crews battle New Jersey wildfire

CNN Weather conditions are improving Wednesday as firefighters continue to battle a large wildfire that burned more than acres in southern New Jersey on Tuesday prompted more than evacuations and briefly shut down part of the Garden State Parkway The fire started in the Greenwood Forest Wildlife Management Area of Ocean County Tuesday morning and has been contained the New Jersey Forest Fire Arrangement explained The cause is under inspection Acting New Jersey Gov Tahesha Way declared a state of exigency for Ocean County due to the wildfire Wednesday morning At this time we have no loss of life and no homes have been harmed Way reported in a post on X No injuries have been informed but several businesses in an industrial park in Lacey Township have burned Ocean County Undersheriff Jon Lombardi informed CNN Mandatory evacuation orders were in effect Tuesday for parts of Lacey and Ocean townships The orders were rescinded Wednesday morning as conditions improved Donna Flynn Ocean County General Information Director described CNN The portion of the Garden State Parkway a main artery in the state that was closed Tuesday reopened early Wednesday morning according to county leaders Various power lines were proactively de-energized near the fire Tuesday evening at the request of the state s forest fire amenity affecting about customers according to Jersey Central Power and Light Just over homes and businesses remained without power Wednesday morning according to PowerOutage us Thick black clouds filled the sky Tuesday prompting a residents medical advisory in the county as air quality worsened Particular buildings appear to have already been burnt as firefighters work to protect structures aerials from CNN affiliate WPVI show The smoke wasn t too bad at first Giana Nicholas described CNN affiliate News New Jersey but it rapidly escalated and forced her family to evacuate Eventually as the night went on smoke flooded the streets she explained The fire comes as New Jersey is under an official drought warning with well-below average precipitation throughout the winter the state announced in a news release last month Approximately acres of New Jersey s forests are burnt each year with Tuesday s fire surpassing the yearly average While wildfires aren t as common as in other areas of the country the region is no stranger to the phenomenon 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 and mph Dry weather is expected for the remainder of the week but light winds of to mph should help fire crews make progress on containment Showers will arrive late Friday night and continue through much of Saturday