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

BARNEGAT TOWNSHIP, N.J. (AP) — A fast-moving wildfire burning in New Jersey on Tuesday forced thousands of people to evacuate and closed a stretch of a major highway.

The Garden State Parkway, one of New Jersey's busiest highways, was closed between Barnegat and Lacey townships, according to the New Jersey Fire Service.

More than 1,300 structures were threatened and about 3,000 residents were evacuated, the fire service said. Shelters were open at two high schools, according to the Barnegat Police Department.

The Jersey Central Power and Light Company cut power to about 25,000 customers at the request of the Forest Fire Service and the wildfire’s command post Tuesday evening, including thousands in Barnegat Township. The company said on X that it doesn’t expect to restore the power before Wednesday.

“This is for the safety of crews battling the fire,” the company said.

The fire in the Greenwood Forest Wildlife Management Area burned more than 13.2 square miles (34.2 square kilometers) of land, fire officials said.

The blaze, burning in Ocean and Lacey Townships in Ocean County, was only about 10% contained Tuesday night, the New Jersey Fire Service said. The cause of the fire was under investigation.

There were no immediate reports of injuries.

Debi Schaffer was caught in gridlocked traffic after evacuating with her two dogs while her husband agreed to stay with their 22 chickens, The Press of Atlantic City reported.

“I wanted to take them in the car with me; can you imagine 22 chickens in a car?" she told the newspaper.

Around her Waretown house it was “like a war zone,” she said, describing smoke, sirens and the buzz of helicopters.

The site of the fire is near an alpaca farm. The farm said in a Facebook post that the property wasn’t threatened and all of the animals were safe.

The blaze is the second major forest fire in the region in less than a week.

Smoke rises from a wildfire early Wednesday, April 23, 2025, near Barnegat Township, N.J. (AP Photo/Chris Szagola)

Smoke rises from a wildfire early Wednesday, April 23, 2025, near Barnegat Township, N.J. (AP Photo/Chris Szagola)

Carmine, of Waretown, and his dog Amber sit outside an evacuation center at Southern Regional High School during wildfires on Tuesday, April 22, 2025, near Stafford Township, N.J. (AP Photo/Chris Szagola)

People head into an evacuation shelter at Southern Regional High School from wildfires on Tuesday, April 22, 2025, near Stafford Township, N.J. (AP Photo/Chris Szagola)

A fire burns on Tuesday, April 22, 2025, near Waretown, N.J. (AP Photo/Chris Szagola)

A fire burns on Tuesday, April 22, 2025, near Waretown, N.J. (AP Photo/Chris Szagola)

A Waretown volunteer firefighter helps prepare a firetruck to respond to a wildfire on Tuesday, April 22, 2025, in Waretown, N.J. (AP Photo/Chris Szagola)

Firefighters respond to a wildfire on Tuesday, April 22, 2025, in Waretown, N.J. (AP Photo/Chris Szagola)

A fire burns on Tuesday, April 22, 2025, near Waretown, N.J. (AP Photo/Chris Szagola)

Waretown Volunteer Fire Company firefighters prepare to respond to a wildfire on Tuesday, April 22, 2025, in Waretown, N.J. (AP Photo/Chris Szagola)

STARKE, Fla. (AP) — An Army combat veteran whose Gulf War experience triggered severe mental problems was scheduled to be executed Thursday evening in Florida for the shotgun killings of his girlfriend and her three young children in 1998.

Barring a late reprieve, Jeffrey Hutchinson is set to receive a lethal injection starting at 6 p.m. Thursday at Florida State Prison near Starke. The execution, if carried out, will be the fourth in Florida this year under death warrants signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis, with a fifth execution planned for May 15.

Hutchinson awoke at 4:30 a.m. Thursday, prison officials said.

“He has remained compliant,” said Ted Veerman, spokesman for the Florida Department of Corrections.

Hutchinson had three visitors Thursday, including his sister and a spiritual adviser. His last meal was salmon, mahi-mahi, asparagus, baked potato and ice tea, Veerman said.

“He’s been calm and in good spirits,” Veerman said.

Hutchinson, 62, has long claimed he is innocent and that two unknown assailants perpetrated the killings as part of a U.S. government conspiracy aimed at silencing him over his activism on claims of Gulf War illnesses and other issues affecting veterans. Hutchinson served eight years in the Army, part of it as an elite Ranger.

Court records, however, show that on the night of the murders in Crestview, Florida, Hutchinson had argued with his girlfriend, 32-year-old Renee Flaherty, then packed his clothes and guns into a truck. Hutchinson went to a bar and drank some beer, telling staff there that Flaherty was angry with him before leaving abruptly.

A short time later, a male caller told a 911 operator “I just shot my family” from the house Hutchinson and Flaherty shared with the three children: 9-year-old Geoffrey, 7-year-old Amanda, and 4-year-old Logan. All were killed with a 12-gauge shotgun that was found on a kitchen counter. Hutchinson was located by police in the garage with a phone still connected to the 911 center and gunshot residue on his hands.

At his 2001 trial, Hutchinson based his defense on a claim that two unknown men came to the house, killing Flaherty and the children after he struggled with them. A jury found Hutchinson guilty of four counts of first-degree murder and he was sentenced to life in prison for Flaherty's killing and three death sentences for the children.

Since then, Hutchinson has undertaken numerous unsuccessful appeals, many focused on mental health problems linked to his Army service. In late April, his lawyers sought to delay his execution date by claiming Hutchinson is insane and therefore cannot be put to death.

Bradford County Circuit Judge James Colaw rejected that argument.

“This Court finds that Jeffrey Hutchinson does not have any current mental illness,” Colaw said in his April 27 order. “This Court finds that Mr. Hutchinson's purported delusion is demonstrably false. Jeffrey Hutchinson does not lack the mental capacity to understand the reason for the pending execution.”

In their court filings, Hutchinson's lawyers said he suffers from Gulf War Illness — a series of health problems stemming from the 1990-1991 war in Iraq — as well as post-traumatic stress disorder and paranoia related to his claim that he was targeted by government surveillance.

One of his lawyers, Chelsea Shirley, said Hutchinson has “a decades-long delusion that he is being executed to silence his efforts to expose government secrets. Two experts have concluded that he is not competent for execution. Based on these facts, we believe the court was wrong to find Mr. Hutchinson competent to be executed, but we are not surprised.”

Florida’s lethal injection protocol uses a sedative, a paralytic and a drug that stops the heart, according to the state Department of Corrections.

So far this year, 14 people have been executed in the U.S., including three in Florida, with Hutchinson to become the fourth. A fifth Florida execution is scheduled May 15 for Glen Rogers, who was convicted of killing a woman at a motel in 1997. Rogers was also convicted of another woman's murder in California and is believed by investigators to have killed others around the country.

This image provided by the Florida Department of Corrections shows Jeffrey Hutchinson. (Florida Department of Corrections via AP)