A 19-year-old from Ocean Township, New Jersey, is accused of starting a massive wildfire that prompted thousands of evacuations, burned around 15,000 acres and destroyed a commercial building.
Joseph Kling was arrested and charged with aggravated arson and arson, the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office said Thursday. The fire, named the Jones Road Wildfire, erupted Tuesday in Waretown and has spread throughout the southern Ocean County area.
Prosecutors accused Kling of setting wooden pallets on fire and then leaving the area without ensuring that the blaze was fully extinguished.
Thursday afternoon the fire had burned 15,200 acres and was 50% contained. There have been no deaths and no loss of homes, officials said.
Ocean County Prosecutor Bradley D. Billhimer did not comment Thursday on why the fire was set. He noted that prosecutors don’t have to prove a motive.
“We can just confidently say that we think the fire was set intentionally,” Billhimer said. The fire wasn’t set that far back inside the forest, he said.
Billhimer said that “some technological advances” led to Kling being placed at the scene, and prosecutors also have corroborating witness statements.
The Cedar Bridge Fire Tower located a plume of smoke coming from the area of Jones Road and Bryant Road in Ocean Township just before 10 a.m. on Tuesday. Emergency personnel observed a fire within the Ocean County Natural Lands Trust’s Forked River Mountains Wilderness Area.
The cause of the fire was determined to be incendiary by an improperly extinguished bonfire, the prosecutor’s office said in a news release.
Kling is being held at the Ocean County jail pending a detention hearing.
The fire destroyed a commercial building and some vehicles, and it had forced the closure of a section of the Garden State Parkway on Tuesday. Four structures remained threatened Thursday, the state Forest Fire Service said.
About 5,000 residents were evacuated, but the orders have since been lifted.
On Wednesday, acting New Jersey Gov. Tahesha Way declared a state of emergency. Fire officials and Shawn M. LaTourette, state commissioner of environmental protection, have said that the fire is expected to burn for a couple more days.
LaTourette has said it could end up being the biggest wildfire in the state in 20 years, and he said firefighters “truly averted a major disaster.”
New Jersey has some of the most volatile wildland fuels in the country, New Jersey Forest Fire Service Chief Bill Donnelly said Thursday. High winds exacerbated the fire’s spread, officials said.
“We just could not get far enough ahead on this fire, based on its behavior, that we were actually able to keep it in check,” Donnelly said.
Rain is forecast for the area Saturday, Donnelly said.
