A wildfire raging in New Jersey's Pine Barrens could become the state's largest in 20 years, officials say, but progress is being made on containment even as it continues to grow. The New Jersey Forest Fire Service says the fire, which has burned more than 11,500 acres since it started in Ocean County Tuesday morning, was 30% contained as of Wednesday morning, CNN reports. "We've truly averted a major disaster," Shawn LaTourette, commissioner of the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, said Wednesday, adding that a lot of work needs to be done before complete containment is achieved. "This could very well end up being the largest wildfire in New Jersey in 20 years," he said.
Officials say personnel are keeping "careful round-the-clock watch" on an inactive nuclear power plant in Ocean County's Lacey Township, NJ.com reports. The Oyster Creek plant was shut down in 2018, but a small amount of spent fuel remains on the site, officials say. Patrick O'Brien, a spokesman for the property's owner, says embers blew onto the site Tuesday night, but the fire was "completely and safely extinguished."
Acting NJ Gov. Tahesha Way declared a state of emergency Wednesday morning. "At this time, we have no loss of life and no homes have been harmed," she said. Some 5,000 residents who were evacuated have been permitted to return home and a stretch of the Garden State Parkway that was closed on Tuesday reopened Wednesday morning, the AP reports. Officials expect the fire to keep growing in unpopulated areas until wet weather arrives later this week. (More New Jersey stories.)
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