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New Jersey wildfire: Bizzare reason suspects gave for how the blaze started
Joseph Kling, 19, and his co-defendant, 17, have been accused of lying to police when they were interviewed about the fire and their involvement in it.
Two New Jersey teens who allegedly set the deadly Jones Road wildfire initially came up with a bizarre reason for how the blaze started, authorities have revealed. The fires burned more than 15,000 acres.
Joseph Kling, 19, and his co-defendant, 17, have been accused of lying to police when they were interviewed about the Ocean Count conflagration and their potential involvement in it. Investigators later found that the two deliberately set wooden pallets ablaze April 22, before walking away, the New York Post reported.
Bizarre reason
Kling and his accomplice, on being questioned, blamed the fire on Mexicans they claimed they saw in the woods just before the fire started, the Asbury Park Press reported. Both of them are now being held in police custody. While Kling has been charged with aggravated arson, arson, and hindering apprehension, his accomplice was charged with aggravated arson and hindering apprehension. An attorney for Kling told a judge that his client had not intended to set off such a huge fire
According to the outlet, investigators who searched the suspects’ phone found chats that “refute the claim that Mexicans started the fire,” prosecutors said. Witnesses who were interviewed by detectives reportedly named Kling and the other suspect as those who started the blaze. The Jones Road Wildfire was almost 80% contained as of Saturday, May 3.
Fire officials said that the blaze in the Ocean County Natural Lands Trust Forked River Mountains Wilderness Area was spotted from the Cedar Bridge Fire Tower, as reported by News 12. About 5,000 residents in Ocean and Lacey townships had to be evacuated as a precaution.
A commercial structure, Liberty Door and Awning, was destroyed by the fire, as well several outbuildings and vehicles. Lacey Township Mayor Peter Curatolo expressed his concerns about the effect of the fire on animals in the fire zone. “It's a wildlife preserve, it's a pristine part of our township, and I don't know how many animals were lost, and I feel like they need advocacy, too,” Curatolo told News 12.
Officials managed to plot the origin of the fire using GPS. "The cause of the fire was determined to be incendiary by an improperly extinguished bonfire," officials said. "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."
