Teen arrested in arson that started 52-acre wildfire in South Jersey

A 14-year-old was charged with aggravated arson for starting a wildfire that consumed 52 acres in South Jersey, police said.

The Marlton teen, whom police did not identify because he is a juvenile, was arrested Nov. 7 and accused of starting the fire on Oct. 30 near Sycamore Drive in Evesham Township, by the Berlin Township border, Evesham Township police said in a Facebook post.

Firefighters from the Evesham Fire Department and New Jersey Forest Fire Service, along with Evesham Township police, battled the blaze for several days. No nearby structures were damaged, police said.

Investigators found evidence that the teen intentionally set the fire, police said. It was unclear how authorities determined that.

The teen was also charged with causing or risking widespread injury or damage, police said. He was being held in the Middlesex Juvenile Detention Center, awaiting a first court appearance.

Authorities are also investigating whether a Nov. 7 fire in the area of Sycamore Drive that burned through 375 acres is connected to the Oct. 30 fire. As with the October fire, the blaze took firefighters days to place under control. No structures were damaged, police said.

Anyone with information on the fires is asked to call the Evesham Police Department at 856-983-1116 or the department’s confidential tip line at 856-983-4699. Tipsters can also email mahand@eveshampd.org or leave anonymous tips by texting ETPDTIP to 847411.

The wildfires in Evesham are among more than 500 such fires that have erupted across New Jersey since October in what state officials have called an unprecedented dry period in the Garden State that stretches back to at least August.

Gov. Phil Murphy declared a drought warning for New Jersey on Wednesday, the first time the state has declared such a warning since 2016. New Jersey American Water, the state’s largest drinking water supplier, issued a mandatory conservation notice immediately after the declaration.

The New Jersey Forest Fire Service has responded to 537 wildfires since early October, an increase of more than 1,300% over the same period last year.

In one case, an 18-year-old firefighter was killed battling a blaze at the New Jersey-New York border when he was struck by a falling tree.

And last week, Richard Shashaty, 37, of Brick Township, was charged with arson and firearms violations after authorities said he started a fire near Six Flags Great Adventure that consumed 350 acres. Authorities say he started the blaze by firing a shotgun loaded with so-called Dragon’s breath shells designed to spread flames.

The blaze, dubbed the “Shotgun Wildfire,” was started when Shashaty fired the gun and the shell’s magnesium shards ignited nearby combustible materials, authorities said. Firing incendiary or tracer ammunition is prohibited in New Jersey, officials said.