TOMS RIVER – An Ocean County grand jury has charged a Pennsylvania woman with aggravated arson, accusing her of deliberately setting a fire in Surf City that injured a firefighter,  Ocean County Prosecutor Bradley D. Billhimer said. 

In addition to aggravated arson, the indictment the grand jury handed up on Jan. 28 also charges the defendant, Juliette Tournier, 30, of Horsham, Pennsylvania, with eluding Ship Bottom police, Billhimer said. 

The incidents contained in the indictment both took place on Feb. 19, 2025, according to a news release issued by Billhimer. 

About 8:40 p.m. that day, Surf City police and firefighters were dispatched to a fire at a house on North Central Avenue, the release said. 

During efforts to extinguish the blaze, a firefighter suffered injuries for which he was transported to Southern Ocean Medical Center in Stafford Township, the news release said. 

The firefighter was treated for his injuries at the medical center and subsequently released.

An investigation of the fire by the arson squad of the prosecutor’s major crimes unit, the Ocean County Sheriff’s crime scene investigation unit, Surf City police and the Ocean County Fire Marshal’s Office revealed two separate areas of origin of the fire – one upstairs and one downstairs. Detectives determined the fires at both locations were incendiary, started by someone introducing an open flame to ignitable liquids, the news release said.

An explosion was reported at a metal fabricating plant on Thursday night in Pennsylvania, according to officials.

At least four people were transported to the hospital with injuries in connection with the incident at the Langeloth Metallurgical Company facility on Langeloth Road in Smith Township in Washington County, WTAE reported.

A hazardous materials team was called to the facility following the explosion.

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The incident was reported at about 6:15 p.m., according to the outlet.

“Apparently, they were transferring some kind of chemical from a tanker to a stationary tank, and something went wrong and something exploded,” Smith Township Fire Chief Brandon Kriznik said, according to WTAE.

Washington County officials issued a shelter-in-place notice for the Langeloth neighborhood over concerns about a potential release of hydrogen peroxide into the air, although the notice has since been lifted.

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The county has notified the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, which local emergency management officials said is standard procedure in a chemical incident.

“Everything’s good. There was nothing released that can harm anybody, and everybody can rest tonight knowing that everything’s good here,” Kriznik said.

Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro sat down with Bret on Thursday to discuss the growing tensions between local residents and ICE in Minnesota and where he stands on the increasingly controversial position of collaborating with ICE. Governor Shapiro also clarifies his past comment criticizing Vice President JD Vance over an X post on Holocaust Remembrance Day, shares the nuances in his own view on religion, and reflects on the arson attack perpetrated against he and his family in 2025.