An improperly extinguished bonfire has been identified as the cause of a blaze that had burned 15,200 acres of Pine Barrens in southern Ocean County as of Thursday afternoon. An investigation determined that Kling set ablaze wooden pallets and then left the area before the fire was fully extinguished,

The Waretown man lit pallets on fire in the woods and failed to fully extinguish them before he left, authorities said.