A man set a bonfire using wooden pallets in New Jersey’s Pine Barrens and left them without fully extinguishing the blaze, sparking a quick-moving wildfire with smoke affecting air quality in the New York City area, authorities said Thursday.
Authorities arrested the 19-year-old from Waretown, N.J., and charged him with arson and aggravated arson in the fire that’s still burning in southern New Jersey.
Prosecutors said there’s no attorney listed for him.
It’s peak forest fire season in the vast pine wilderness that covers more than 1 million acres — an area roughly as large as the Grand Canyon — and firefighters are contending with low humidity and the aftermath of a monthslong drought in the region.
Though large tracts of the Pine Barrens are uninhabited, New Jersey is the nation’s most densely populated state and officials have warned the fire could threaten developments nearby. The fire had grown to more than 23 square miles on Thursday, approaching what officials believe to have been the largest wildfire in the state in the last two decades.
Authorities had said there were no injuries or deaths in the fire, but a commercial building and some vehicles had been destroyed. About 5,000 people had been evacuated but were permitted to return home on Wednesday, officials said.
“This is still a very active fire,’’ Department of 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.’’
The effects of the fire are beginning to be seen beyond the state.
Higher-than-normal pollution levels have been expected in New York City, Rockland, and Westchester counties, and in Long Island’s Nassau and Suffolk counties, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation advised Wednesday. The fire is roughly 54 miles south of New York City.
The Ocean County Sheriff’s Office in New Jersey also cautioned early Thursday about air quality, saying “smoke will continue to permeate the area.’’ It said emergency personnel will be on site for the next few days.
In New York, dry conditions across the state are resulting in a “high’’ fire danger rating in several regions including New York City, Long Island, the Hudson Valley, Capital Region, and portions of the North Country, the state air quality advisory said. The rest of the state is at a moderate or low level of fire danger.
Associated Press
