By NANCY RUMP

UPPER TOWNSHIP – State Police Wednesday identified Joshua T. Fehrle as the victim of a one-car crash earlier this week on Route 631.

Fehrle, 20, of Petersburg, was traveling east on the roadway at milepost 4, near the intersection with Church Road early Tuesday morning, when police say his truck ran off the eastbound shoulder and then struck and became lodged between two trees.

When a passing driver came upon the scene, the vehicle was fully engulfed in flames, police said. Authorities are still trying to determine why Fehrle’s truck left the roadway. The accident was reported at 3:58 a.m. by the passing driver, but police do not know exactly how long the vehicle was burning on the side of the road. The witness that reported the burning truck had no means to extinguish the fire, police said.

Jay Newman, chief of the Marmora Volunteer Fire Company, who lives approximately two blocks from the incident, told the Gazette he arrived at the location just before 4 a.m. and saw the vehicle was consumed by flames. Newman said several other Marmora firefights living in the vicinity reported waking up to a loud noise and their pagers going off minutes later.

Firefighters contained the blaze and discovered the victim still inside the truck, Newman said. The Upper Township Rescue Squad was also dispatched to assist.

Fehrle was pronounced dead at the scene. He was the sole occupant in the vehicle and no other cars were involved in the accident, according to police.

Autopsy results showed he died from multiple blunt-force trauma to his entire body, police said. Although the truck was wedged between two trees, detectives at the Woodbine barracks confirmed for the Gazette that Fehrle was not trapped inside the burning vehicle. He died from the impact, they said. It was not known Wednesday if he was wearing a seatbelt or how fast he was driving on the 50 mph road.

The accident remains under investigation with State Police at the Woodbine barracks and New Jersey State Police Fatal Accident Unit.