New Jersey officials announce 100% containment of Jones Road wildfire

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New Jersey Forest Fire Service officials announced Monday that the Jones Road wildfire is 100% contained, more than two weeks after the blaze was first reported.

The acreage of the blaze continues to be held to 15,300 burned.

Two people have been charged in connection with the wildfire. Joseph Kling, 19, of Waretown, was taken into custody April 23. He was released to home detention with an ankle monitor May 5. Also charged, a 17-year-old boy. Both have been charged with arson, aggravated arson and hindering apprehension.

According to the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office, both are accused of setting a stack of wooden pallets on fire and leaving the area without extinguishing the bonfire properly. A further investigation found that Kling and the teenager gave false information about how the fire started, according to the prosecutor’s office.

The fire was first reported by a spotter in the Cedar Bridge Fire Tower on April 22. Efforts to contain the flames to the 10–20 acres it consumed failed. It quickly grew to burn past the Garden State Parkway, reaching the area of Route 9. Residents in Ocean and Lacey townships were ordered to evacuate by that evening.

More than 24 hours later, more than 11,000 acres were burned. Officials, at one point, believed that the blaze would grow to be the largest wildfire since 2007.

Officials originally expected to have the blaze fully contained by that weekend based on the weather forecast, but the rainfall did not make a significant impact. The Forest Fire Service said at the time that less than a tenth of an inch of rain was received in areas of the fire. It would be one week before significant rainfall aided in efforts to contain the fire.