Young Firebug Charged With Arson At Two Bergen Schools

A middle school student set arson fires three weeks apart in River Edge and Oradell, authorities charged.

Oradell firefighters at the River Dell HS field house on July 11.
Photo Credit: *ORADELL FD*

07/15/2022 3:13 p.m.

The first began in a garbage receptacle at the Roosevelt Elementary School on Summit Avenue in River Edge shortly after 9:30 p.m. on June 20 and was out by the time firefighters arrived, Bergen County Prosecutor Mark Musella said Friday.

The second was much more damaging.

It caused fire and heavy smoke damage after it was ignited in several spots in the field house at River Dell High School in Oradell just after 5:30 p.m. July 11, the prosecutor said.

Members of Musella’s arson unit investigated the fires with police from both towns and determined that the young teen, who lives in Oradell, deliberately set them, he said.

The boy was issued a delinquency complaint charging him with aggravated arson, attempting to cause widespread injury and criminal trespassing, then was sent to the Bergen County Juvenile Detention Center in Teterboro.

Because he’s a juvenile, the charges will be heard by a judge behind closed doors in the Family Part of Superior Court in Hackensack.

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