New Jersey forest fire prompts thousands of evacuations and closes a major highway

[Wicked Blue]

4. I'm about 20 miles north of the fire. The fire is not far from a closed nuclear power plant.

The Garden State Parkway and Route 9 have re-opened according to NJ.com.

NJ.com

A wildfire raging in Ocean County reached 8,500 acres on Tuesday night, prompting concerns for residents, homes, wildlife — and a closed power plant in Lacey Township.

Oyster Creek, the former nuclear plant, was shut down in 2018 but “spent fuel” remains on-site and a small fire was reported (and put out) earlier in the evening, a spokesman for the property told NJ Advance Media.

The former power plant is in one of the areas currently under the New Jersey Forest Fire Service’s mandatory evacuation. As of 10:30 p.m. the fire, dubbed the “Jones Road Forest Fire,” was just 10% contained.

Earlier in the evening “embers from the fire” blew onto a small patch of grass on the power plant’s property north of buildings and structures there, according to Patrick O’Brien, a spokesman for Holtec, which owns the power plant property.
That fire was “completely and safely extinguished,” he said.

https://www.nj.com/ocean/2025/04/power-plant-staff-is-on-round-the-clock-watch-as-nearby-nj-wildfire-rages.html

PHOTO from NJ Department of Environmental Protection via NBC News.