A 19-year-old man faces arson charges related to the wildfire in Ocean County, N.J. that has scorched more than 15,000 acres. Joseph Kling, of Waretown, faces aggravated arson and arson charges related to the fire. According to the Ocean County prosecutor and New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, the wildfire started Tuesday at around 9:45 a.m. Authorities say a joint investigation revealed the wildfire was caused by a bonfire that wasn't properly extinguished. Authorities allege Kling lit wooden pallets on fire and then left the area before the fire was fully out. Kling has been taken into custody and is being held at the Ocean County Jail pending a hearing.

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 the air quality in the New York City area, authorities said Thursday. Authorities arrested the 19-year-old from Waretown, New Jersey, and charged him with arson and aggravated arson in the fire that’s still burning in southern New Jersey that they described as started with “an improperly extinguished bonfire” 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 (405,000 hectares) — 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.

Joseph Kling, of Ocean Township, allegedly started a bonfire in the vast Forked River Mountains Wilderness Area with wooden pallets that exploded out of control when he did not properly put it out, according to the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office. Kling was taken into custody at Ocean Township Police headquarters and taken to the Ocean County Jail where he is awaiting his detention hearing. A column of smoke was first spotted from the Cedar Bridge Fire Tower in Barnegat Township around 9:45 a.m. on Tuesday, officials said. The fire quickly spread out of control, forcing the evacuation of 5,000 residents of Ocean and Lacey Townships