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A man who authorities say didn’t properly extinguish a bonfire has been charged with starting a wildfire in Ocean County that has burned more than 15,000 acres.
Joseph W. Kling, 19, of the Waretown section of Ocean Township is charged with aggravated arson and arson, the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office said Thursday.
Investigators used Global Positioning System (GPS) to determine exactly where the fire started and later learned Kling set pallets on fire and left without fully extinguishing them.
The fire broke out about 9:45 a.m. Tuesday in the Ocean County Natural Lands Trust’s Forked River Mountains Wilderness Area east of Jones Road and had grown to about 15,000. It is 50% contained.
A business in Lacey that backs up to woods was destroyed along with several vehicles. No homes in Lacey or Ocean Township have been damaged and officials have reported no injuries.
Kling is being held at the Ocean County jail ahead of a first appearance on Thursday. If prosecutors ask to have him held, a detention hearing would take place on Tuesday, according to court officials.
In January, Kling was charged with endangering an injured victim following a fight in which several young adults were charged.
The attorney representing him on that charge couldn’t immediately be reached Wednesday.
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