Neighbor set blaze that torched 3 houses in North Plainfield, cops say

NORTH PLAINFIELD — A man who police said watched a fire erupt at a residential construction site that then spread to neighboring homes has been charged with arson.

Firefighters responded to the Maple Avenue blaze about 2:45 a.m. Wednesday. According to a GoFundMe page, one of the families lost everything in the fire.

Investigators said a man later identified as Jonathan Davies, 26, was seen leaving and re-entering the house several times and watching the fire.

Davies lives a block away on Dahlia Terrace.

Somerset County Prosecutor Michael H. Robertson did not say whether investigators knew how the fire was set.

Davies was charged with with second-degree aggravated arson and third-degree aggravated assault and is being held at the Somerset County Jail awaiting a detention hearing.

He was led from the scene in handcuffs by police on Wednesday, according to video posted to Twitter by ABC 7 Eyewitness News. 

Robertson asked anyone with information about the fire to contact the Somerset County Prosecutors Office Major Crimes Unit at 908-231-7100 or the North Plainfield Police Department at 908-769-2937.

Contact reporter Dan Alexander at Dan.Alexander@townsquaremedia.com or via Twitter @DanAlexanderNJ

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