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“We have located the origin of the fire and have concluded that the fire was intentionally set,” Ocean County Prosecutor Bradley D. Billhimer said on Friday.
No other new details were released by the prosecutor.
Earlier news coverage and video of the fire by Daily Voice can be found by clicking here.
About 1:15 p.m. on Sunday, the New Jersey Forest Fire Service Observation Tower in Lakewood reported a wildland fire in the area of Cedarbridge Avenue and Airport Road in Lakewood.
As the fire quickly spread, firefighters battled through the night - in the face of 20 mile-per-hour winds - in an effort to contain the blaze. During the course of the fire, a firefighter from the New Jersey Forest Fire Service suffered cardiac arrest. He was taken to Hackensack Meridian Ocean Medical Center in Brick Township where he is reported to be in stable condition, Billhimer said.
About 167 acres of land were destroyed by the fire, and it was finally deemed under control on Monday at about 1 p.m.
“The significance of this wildland fire cannot be overstated. We have a firefighter that suffered cardiac arrest while battling this fire,'' Billhimer said. "Three homeless people living in the woods were saved from the advancing fire. Numerous residences and commercial properties were damaged and hundreds of people were evacuated. It is only by the grace of God that no one was killed,”
Numerous local fire departments helped extinguish the blaze, he said.
It remains an active and ongoing investigation.
Anyone with knowledge of information concerning this fire is urged to contact Sgt. Thomas Haskell of the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office at 732-929-2027, extension 3953.
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