A fast-evolving wildfire in the Pine Barrens of southern Ocean County has scorched 3,200 acres, and forced the evacuation of more than 3,000 people and threatened some 1,320 homes and buildings, officials said.

Mandatory evacuations have been ordered for hundreds of residents in New Jersey's Ocean Township, Lakewood and Lacey Township in Ocean County due to a fast-spreading wildfire which broke out Tuesday morning.

Thousands of people have been forced to leave their homes in Ocean Township, Lakewood and Lacey Township, New Jersey, as a fast-spreading wildfire burns in Ocean County.