Officials expect the Jones Road Wildfire to eclipse a 2007 blaze by the time full containment happens this weekend.
6 days ago
The Jones Road wildfire, which has impacted Ocean and Lacey townships in Ocean County, burns in New Jersey. (Courtesy of New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection)
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Ocean County and New Jersey officials said Thursday they have arrested a Ocean Township Waretown man in connection to the Jones Road wildfire that sparked Tuesday morning.
Prosecutors in Ocean County have charged 19-year-old Joseph Kling with aggravated arson, a second-degree offense, and arson, a third-degree offense. Kling is being held at the Ocean County Jail.
The aggravated arson charge is applied when there is property damage involved, according to Paul C. Kearns, Jr., a lecturer at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York City and a retired battalion chief with the Teaneck Fire Department in New Jersey.
He noted that open burning is illegal in New Jersey, with few exceptions, and that the prosecutor won’t have to prove intent.
“The fact is that we’re in a drought warning that there’s numerous warnings that come out almost on a daily basis now for the region,” he said. “These are the things that I’m sure the prosecutor is going to be laying out there saying, ‘Hey, it’s common sense that somebody should know that.’”
According to officials, Kling allegedly set wooden pallets on fire and left the area without extinguishing the flame. Investigators said they tracked down the origin of the fire using GPS and determined that it was deliberately set by an improperly extinguished bonfire.
Ocean County Prosecutor Bradley D. Billhimer, during a news conference later in the day, said investigators arrested Kling at his home Wednesday. BIllhimer declined to discuss details, citing the ongoing investigation. However, he dismissed a video circulating on social media that shows Kling near a bonfire.
“We have that video. We’re gonna track it down, but we do not believe that it was from the night of the fire,” he said.
Officials said they expect the fire to continue to burn through the end of the week, adding that full containment will depend on whether a rain forecast holds for the weekend. As of 4 p.m. Thursday, the wildfire has consumed 15,200 acres and remains 50% contained.
The fire, which could become the state’s biggest wildfire since 2007, was first reported by an observer in the Cedar Bridge fire tower at around 9:45 a.m. Tuesday. When crews first arrived on the scene, the fire had spread 10 to 20 acres and the dry conditions helped fan it out quicker.
Matthew Aiello-Lammens, an ecologist and associate professor of environmental studies and sciences at Pace University, noted that the New Jersey Pine Barrens is not only a fire-prone ecosystem, it is also fire dependent.
“In many ways, these systems are almost always prime to have a fire,” he said. “Whether the fire was started by natural causes or by arson, the after effects are likely to be very similar.”
Aiello-Lammens added that the burning ash in the atmosphere is going to have a negative impact on people’s health. There have been reports of compromised air quality from as far as Maryland and the New York City area. But the impact won’t be on the scale of the Western Canadian fires that traveled to the eastern seaboard in 2023.
Kearns, who lives in Bergen County, said he has experienced the impact of smoke from the Jones Road fire.
“We received an air quality warning up here,” he said. “It’s affecting the region. It’s not just affecting the Jersey Shore area down in Ocean County.”
Several hours of consistent rain would be needed to douse the fire, according to Aiello-Lammens. He recalled a 2024 wildfire near the New Jersey-New York border.
”After a couple of days of substantial rainfall, that really helped out in the firefighting process,” he said.
The fire destroyed a family-owned garage door business and several vehicles, but it spared homes and lives.
William J. Donnelly, chief of the state Forest Fire Service, said there have been no reported injuries among those fighting the blaze, but their vehicles have felt the effects of the fire.
“We burnt the engine out of one truck [that] caught on fire. We melted some door panels, our door stickers. We melted some mirrors, cracked some glass,” he said. “The trucks take a lot of abuse, but that’s what we designed them for.”
Officials thanked emergency workers for their efforts in fighting the blaze, and for evacuating people to safety. Between Waretown and Lacey Township, there were about 7,000 people who were ordered to leave their homes, including Waretown Mayor Dr. Ben LoParo.
“We had a voluntary evacuation, then it turned to mandatory,” he told WHYY News. “I called home [and] said, ‘We have to pack up.’
Even before he evacuated with his family, LoParo said he was letting residents know they would have to leave the area.
“I actually went around the plaza in town and told everyone they had to evacuate. It was mandatory,” he said. “I went to the Shoprite and all the other stores, and I was calling my neighbors.”
By Wednesday evening, LoParo was back in his home, where he took a moment to take a breather.
“I went in my office to do paperwork, and that’s when it kind of hit me, and I just relaxed,” he said. “We went to bed early last night. We were tired.”
WHYY News reporter Emily Neil contributed reporting.