Massive fire causes chaos in N.J. as smoke billows over Manhattan

A huge brush fire has backed up cars for miles on a major New Jersey highway and left trains into and out of New York City standing still as billowing smoke could be seen for miles, NBC New York reported Thursday.

The northeast is suffering a heatwave that has brought higher-than-normal temperatures.

Aerial footage showed thick black smoke billowing over an area between the I-95 NJ Turnpike and train tracks. As the fire crept closer to the road, vehicles were forced to swerve into other lanes to avoid the smoke and flames.

The smoke could be seen as far away as Manhattan on the other side of the Hudson River, a photo taken from a city high-rise showed.

The fire happened just days after another small bushfire broke out along the Garden State Parkway. In that case, all lanes were open by 5 p.m. rush-hour traffic.

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"Traffic appeared to be backed up all the way to Newark by 3 p.m.," NBC reported. The two points are about 10 miles apart.

"It wasn't clear what sparked the fire, which broke out between the train tracks and I-95, near the Eastern Spur that leads to the Lincoln Tunnel," which is a major entry point to Manhattan, said the report.

See some of the photos and videos below.