19-Year-Old Arrested For Sparking Massive New Jersey Wildfire

A 19-year-old from Ocean Township, New Jersey, has been arrested and charged with sparking what could be the Garden State’s largest wildfire in decades. 

On Thursday morning, the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office wrote on Facebook that Joseph Kling was charged with aggravated arson and arson in connection with a wildfire that scorched 15,000 acres in the New Jersey Pine Barrens area. 

The latest New Jersey Forest Fire Service update indicates that the wildfire is 50% contained. 

Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office provided additional color about the suspect, Joseph Kling:

Ocean County Prosecutor Bradley D. Billhimer, New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection Commissioner Shawn M. LaTourette and Ocean Township Chief of Police Michal Rogalski announced that on April 23, 2025, Joseph Kling, 19, of Ocean Township (Waretown), was charged with Aggravated Arson and Arson in connection with a wildfire that started in Waretown on April 22, 2025, and continued to spread throughout the southern Ocean County area

On April 22, 2025, at approximately 9:45 a.m., the Cedar Bridge Fire Tower located a column of smoke coming from the area of Jones Road and Bryant Road in Ocean Township. Upon arrival, emergency personnel observed a fire within the Ocean County Natural Lands Trust’s Forked River Mountains Wilderness Area, which is on the east side of Jones Road.

As of April 24, 2025, the fire has burned approximately 15,000 acres in Waretown and Lacey Townships, and has destroyed a commercial building.

A thorough and extensive 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, plotted the origin of the fire via Global Positioning System (GPS).  The cause of the fire was determined to be incendiary by an improperly extinguished bonfire.

Further investigation has revealed that Kling was the individual responsible for setting wooden pallets on fire – and then leaving the area without the fire being fully extinguished.  Kling was taken into custody at Ocean Township (Waretown) Police Headquarters; he was thereafter transported to the Ocean County Jail, where he is presently lodged pending a detention hearing.

There are no indications yet as to whether stupidity, political motives, or climate activism played a role in Kling’s actions that sparked the fire. Certainly, we’ll leave it to federal investigators to comb through social media profiles, voting records, and other databases to determine who Kling is and possible reasons why the blaze started.