OCEAN COUNTY — A Waretown man has been charged with aggravated arson and arson in connection with the massive Jones Road wildfire, which was caused by a bonfire that was improperly extinguished, according to a joint press release issued Thursday by several agencies.
Joseph Kling, 19, of Waretown, was arrested at Ocean Township Police Headquarters and taken to Ocean County Jail where he remained pending a detention hearing.
Kling is accused of setting wooden pallets on fire and then leaving the area without the fire being fully extinguished, according to the release, issued by the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office, New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, New Jersey Forest Fire Service and Ocean Township Police Department.
The first report of the fire came around 9:45 a.m. Tuesday, when the Cedar Bridge Fire Tower located a column of smoke coming from the area of Jones Road and Bryant Road in Waretown, according to an update issued by the New Jersey Forest Fire Service on Facebook Thursday morning.
Upon arrival, emergency personnel observed a fire in the Ocean County Natural Lands Trust’s Forked River Mountains WIlderness Area, which is on the east side of Jones Road.
More than 15,000 acres of forest burned across Waretown and Lacey Township, with 50% containment, the service said.
Authorities later plotted the origin of the fire via Global Positioning System (GPS), according to an investigation conducted by the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office Major Crime Unit-Arson Squad, New Jersey Forest Fire Service, Ocean County Fire Marshal’s Office, and New Jersey State Fire Marshal’s Office.
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