A fast-moving wildfire in New Jersey expanded to 8,500 acres Tuesday afternoon, causing over 3,000 evacuations and threatening more than 1,300 structures while also closing a portion of the Garden State Parkway in the southern portion of the state.

Officials at the decommissioned Oyster Creek nuclear plant nearby said all buildings on the site are designed to withstand fires.

A wildfire exploding in size near the New Jersey shore caused officials to order some 3,000 to evacuate and close a miles-long stretch of the state's busiest highway as dark smoke poured into the Jersey Shore region.