Long stretch of New Jersey’s Garden State Parkway reopens as firefighters battle 5,000-acre blaze

BASS RIVER, N.J. (AP) — A long stretch of New Jersey’s Garden State Parkway has reopened as firefighters work to contain a 5,000-acre forest fire. The blaze broke out Wednesday night in the Bass River State Forest, along the border of Burlington and Ocean counties in southern New Jersey. The state Forest Fire Service says it’s about 50 percent contained and no longer threatening any structures or residential areas as of Friday morning. Roughly 40 people were evacuated Thursday from a camping area as a precaution. That site remained shuttered Friday.