South Jersey Man Charged With Arson In 2 Little Egg Harbor Fires

LITTLE E HARBOR TOWNSHIP, NJ - A township man has been charged with intentionally setting fires in two vacant Radio Road structures on July 8, Ocean County Prosecutor Joseph D. Coronato and Little Egg Harbor Township Police Chief Richard Buzby said.

Phillip Harrison, 48, of Little Egg Harbor Township, was arrested on July 14 for setting the two blazes, one at a home 1021 Radio Road and the other at 847 Radio Road, a commercial structure, said spokesman Al Della Fave.

Harrison is charged with two counts of second-degree aggravated arson and two counts of third-degree burglary. He is lodged in the Ocean County Jail pending a detention hearing, Della Fave said.

The arrest stems from the investigation that began just after midnight on July 8, when Little Egg police and nearby fire departments responded to 1021 Radio Road on a house fire report. Flames were coming from both the interior and exterior of the home when they arrived, Della Fave said.

They determined that the origin of the 1021 Radio Road fire was in the northeast corner of the structure along the floor and began with the application of an open flame to available combustibles The second fire was confined to the interior of the building, went undiscovered and extinguished itself without spreading further, he said.

Both structures had been vacant for a time and all utilities had been disconnected, he said.

Area video surveillance and on scene forensics helped investigators identify Harrison as the suspect in both blazes. Harrison came to the Little Egg police department on July 14 as part of the investigation and was subsequently charged, Della Fave.

The fire was investigated by the Little Egg Harbor police department, the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office Arson Unit and High Tech Crime Unit, the Ocean County Sheriff’s Department CIU, the Ocean County Fire Marshal’s Office and the NJ State Fire Marshall K9 Unit.

Photo: Courtesy of Ocean County Jail