A 19-year-old man was charged with arson after he failed to properly extinguish a bonfire, causing a massive wildfire in Ocean County, New Jersey.
So far, more than 15,000 acres have burned, and thousands of people have been evacuated after the fire erupted Tuesday afternoon at the Greenwood Forest Wildlife Management Area in Barnegat Township, New Jersey, according to NBC 10 Philadelphia. The residents have since been permitted to return home.
The man made a bonfire using wooden pallets but left without ensuring the fire was extinguished. The fire in southern New Jersey is the second-largest fire in the past two decades. In 2007, a blaze burned 26 square miles.
On Wednesday, acting Gov. Tahesha Way (D-NJ) declared a state of emergency. Gov. Phil Murphy (D-NJ) is currently in Poland for an official visit to a Holocaust memorial but will return Friday.
Officials said they had contained about 50% of the wildfire as of Thursday morning. No injuries or deaths had been reported, but a commercial building and several vehicles have been damaged.
“This is still a very active fire,” New Jersey Environmental Protection Commissioner Shawn LaTourette said Wednesday. “As we continue to get this under full control, the expectation is that the number of acres will grow and will grow in a place that is unpopulated.”
TRUMP TO FAST-TRACK PERMITS FOR FOSSIL FUELS AND MINING
The wildfire has caused adverse effects on air quality beyond the fire’s region. The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation shared that there will be higher-than-normal pollution levels in New York City, just 54 miles north of the fires, in Rockland, Westchester, Nassau and Suffolk counties.
The wildfire in the Pine Barrens, located between Philadelphia and the Atlantic coast, is in peak forest fire season, having been under a severe drought warning.