A massive wildfire burning in Ocean and Lacey Townships in Ocean County on Tuesday night prompted the evacuation of at least 3,000 residents, the New Jersey Forest Fire Service said.

The fire, being called the Jones Road Forest Fire, spread to 3,200 acres and was only 5% contained as of just after 8 p.m.

A total of 1,300 structures were being threatened by the flames and multiple shelters were open to assist affected residents.

Massive flames reaching toward the sky could be seen behind an industrial complex in Lacey Township, just off Route 9, according to a video posted on Facebook.

A 17-mile span of the Garden State Parkway was shut down from Exit 63 to Exit 80 and portions of Route 9 are also closed.

As of 9 p.m., The southbound Parkway has been reopened between interchanges 69 and 63 and the northbound Parkway has reopened between interchanges 74 and 80.

The New Jersey Turnpike Authority did not say when the rest of the road would reopen, but the Barnegat Township Police Department said on its Facebook page that the highway was expected to remain closed until midnight.

However, the department cautioned that the residents should plan for an alternate route to get to work in the morning in case the closure is extended

Smoke could be seen as far south as Atlantic City and at least as far north as Brick Township.

New Jersey remains in a drought and wind gusts reached 25 miles per hour helping the rapid spread of the fire Tuesday afternoon, officials with the National Weather Service said.

Power is out for more than 23,000 JCP&L customers in the area of the fire, according to a statement from the power company.

The “forced outage” was done after crews de-energized all lines in and out of the company’s Oyster Creek substation at the request of the New Jersey Forest Fire Service to keep firefighters safe, JCP&L said.

“We will work to restore power to customers as we are safely able, including through tying areas to neighboring lines where safe and possible,” the company said.

The cause of the fire remains under investigation. The state’s Forest Fire Service said an update would be issued at 10 p.m. Tuesday.

No injuries have been reported.

The blaze is burning in the Greenwood Forest Wildlife Management Area in Barnegat, the New Jersey Forest Fire Service said in a statement. Many single family homes are surrounded by the large forest in the Jersey Shore neighborhood.

According to Lacey Township police, the fire crossed over Route 9 in Forked River which has led to mandatory evacuations in town.

A mandatory evacuation order was issued for for the Pheasant Run Community and the southern section of the Barnegat Pines south of Lakeside Drive South near the northbound lanes of the Garden State Parkway. Evacuations were also issued in town for Beach Boulevard and the surrounding areas of Clune Park including South River Drive, Sandy Hook Drive and Orlando Drive.

Lacey Township residents who need a place to go can shelter at Manchester Township High School, the department said.

Oyster Creek, the former Lacey 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.

“Oyster Creek Security Personnel are keeping careful round-the-clock watch on all of the site property to ensure protection from the current forest fire in Waretown,”a spokesman for the a spokesman for Holtec, which owns the power plant property told NJ Advance Media.

Jones Wildfire

In nearby Stafford Township, all parkway entrances and exits were shut but as of 7 p.m., there were no voluntary or mandatory evacuations in town, police said.

The Ocean Township Police Department said on its Facebook page that the Garden State Parkway Southbound is open for evacuation traffic at exit 69.

The Barnegat Police Department announced voluntary evacuations in the neighborhoods of Windward, Mirage, Pheasant Run, Heritage Point North, Brookville and all houses on West Bay Avenue.

The department added that any residents who were asked to evacuate could take shelter at Southern Regional High School. Pets are also welcome.

Containment efforts include backfiring operations, use of an air tanker capable of dropping 600 gallons of water and a helicopter capable of dropping 300 gallons of water, officials said.

Please consider supporting NJ.com with a voluntary subscription.

Chris Sheldon may be reached at [email protected].