Deceased NJ Pilot In Crash Linked To Wildfire Identified: Police

LACEY, NJ - The New Jersey pilot who died in a crash tied to a massive wildfire in South Jersey over the weekend has been identified, authorities said.

Oscar Molina, 61, of Long Branch, was identified as the pilot and the only person on board the single-engine Cirrus SR20, according to Lacey police.

“The family of the pilot has been formally notified,” Lacey police said. “The men and women of the Lacey Township Police Department express their sincere condolences to the Molina family.”

The plane, destined for Ocean County Airport, left Monmouth Executive Airport in Wall at around 9:30 p.m. on Saturday and crashed at 10:18 p.m. in a wooded area near Robert J. Miller Airpark, a spokesperson from the National Transportation Safety Board told Patch.

The single-engine plane circled the area around Ocean County Airport several times before the crash, according to flight map data from FlightAware. Per flight logs, the plane would regularly make short trips between destinations in New Jersey, some as short as 12 minutes.

The plane was registered to Molina in Florida under the filing name Zarot LLC in August 2022.

The crash was ruled an accident and resulted in a post-crash fire, investigators said in an initial crash report.

An investigation into smoke in the area led authorities to discover the crash site, Lacey Capt. Paul Sullivan Jr. said.

As of Tuesday morning, the wildfire - which grew to 831 acres - was 100 percent contained, the New Jersey Forest Fire Service said. The fire area included property managed by Ocean County and the Greenwood Forest Wildlife Management Area.

Due to the fire, Popcorn Park Animal Refuge was closed Sunday but reopened on Monday.

Several roads were closed and 25 structures were threatened during the thick of the fire Sunday and Monday, though there was no reported damage to any of the threatened structures as of Tuesday morning. There were no reported evacuations or injuries.

Despite the controlled blaze, forest fire officials said the smell of smoke will linger in the area until “significant” rain falls.

The crash remains under investigation by the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board.