Second teen charged in New Jersey forest fire as rain should help douse New York blaze

A second teenager was charged with intentionally setting a wildfire in a New Jersey suburb of Philadelphia as “significant” rainfall was expected to help douse a stubborn wildfire burning on the New Jersey-New York border Wednesday.

Many parts of the Northeast have been under red flag alerts, with firefighters responding to hundreds of brush fires in tinder-dry and windy conditions. Officials have said numerous prolonged rain storms are needed in parts of New England as well as New Jersey and New York, which are the driest in between 120 to 150 years.

Police in Evesham Township said Wednesday they have arrested a 14-year-old from Marlton in connection with an Oct. 30 wildfire that burned less than a tenth of a square mile. On Nov. 7, they charged another youth, also from Marlton, with setting that same fire. The latest arrest was made Tuesday and announced on Wednesday. Both are charged with aggravated arson, and causing or risking widespread injury or damage.

Both have been taken to a juvenile detention center as detectives investigate whether they might have been responsible for a second wildfire in Evesham a week later that burned a slightly larger area.

A storm moving into the New Jersey-New York area Wednesday was expected to bring what New York officials called “significant” rainfall to the area of the Jennings Creek wildfire, which has burned 8.3 square miles and was 90% contained as of Wednesday morning.

While that will undoubtedly help fire crews douse the fire, which is burning in several hard-to-reach areas of rugged terrain, the rain could bring its own challenges.

“Soil within the burned area will become unstable and erosive as it becomes more saturated,” the New York Department of Environmental Conservation said in a statement Tuesday night. “Residents may see burned and decomposing trees fall within the fire area. A combination of mud and burned debris may run off into local waterways causing discoloration.”

Two smaller wildfires in New Jersey, each having burned less than a tenth of a square mile, were declared fully contained Wednesday morning. They were burning in Hainesport in Burlington County, and in Pine Park in Lakewood in Ocean County.