April 24, 2025
Doug Hood/USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
Joseph Kling, 19, of Ocean Township, was charged with arson for allegedly starting the Jones Road Wildfire in the New Jersey Pinelands.
The Jones Road Wildfire in the New Jersey Pinelands allegedly was started by an Ocean County man who lit wood pallets and left them without fully extinguishing them, authorities said Thursday.
Joseph Kling, 19, of Ocean Township, was charged with arson and aggravated arson on Wednesday, authorities said. He is awaiting a detention hearing.
Investigators used GPS technology to determine that the fire began in Ocean Township before spreading to Lacey and Barnegat townships, authorities said. That information helped investigators identify how the fire started Tuesday morning in the Ocean County Natural Lands Trust's Forked River Mountains Wilderness Area.
As of 10 a.m. Thursday, the fire had burned 15,000 acres and was 50% contained, the New Jersey Forest Fire Service said. Officials expect the blaze to be fully extinguished by the weekend if a forecasted rainstorm comes to fruition.
The blaze destroyed a commercial building, prompted 5,000 evacuations and briefly closed the Garden State Parkway and other roads. All evacuation orders have been lifted and power has been restored to 25,000 people who lost it, Jersey Central Power and Light said.
The wildfire is New Jersey's largest since a 2007 blaze that began at the Warren Grover Gunnery Range. That fire burned 17,000 acres, destroyed four structures and forced 2,500 people to evacuate, WHYY reported.
