As of 10:30pm (0230 GMT), the Jones Road wildfires were furious across Ocean County, with 10% locked up, New Jersey Forest Fire Services said in a post on social media platform X.
Just two hours after reporting that the fire had reached 3,200 acres, the flame sized to 8,500 acres (3,440 hectares).
The firefighters said “many” firefighters were deployed along with fire trucks, bulldozers and ground crews.
He said the cause of the fire was “under investigation.”
Local media said the flames began in a large, rural coastal ecosystem known as Pine Valence, one of the largest protected lands on the US East Coast.
New Jersey had received an official drought warning, the state’s Environmental Protection Agency said in March.
Jersey Central Power & Light has been knocked out by around 25,000 customers in an X post.
The flame also forced the closure of parts of Garden State Park, the state’s main highway.
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