2021 wildfire season: prescribed burning under way in New Jersey

With the attention that the need for prescribed burning in other areas of the United States, I am proud that the New Jersey Forest Fire Service has been conducting prescribed burning for over eighty years. 

The 2021 prescribed burning season is underway in New Jersey. The NJ Forest Fire Services describes prescribed burning on their prescribed burning webpage:

... a prescribed burn is: "the skillful application of fire under exacting conditions of weather and fuel in a predetermined area, for a specific purpose to achieve specific results."

Since 1928, the Fire Service has used fire as a tool to protect the lives and property of our residents living near the forestlands of New Jersey. We do this by setting fires under exacting conditions to reduce the underbrush (the "fuel" for a fire), in areas that are prone to fire, or that may be located in a position where we feel we can defend against an oncoming wildfire. The use of fire in this way requires a level of skill and competence that we encourage through extensive, ongoing training.

The primary purpose of prescribed burning in New Jersey is to reduce the hazardous accumulations of forest fuels. This aids in the prevention of wildfires, reduces the intensity of the fires, and also provides a foundation for safer, more effective fire suppression and protection operations.

There is more about the New Jersey Forest Fire Service’s prescribed burning program in this NJ DEP April 2019 press release 

Thanks to a friend as well as the NJ Forest Fire Service’s Facebook posts (see their January 9th post on Facebook), I know about prescribed burns that were undertaken (weather permitting) on January 9th and 10th:

Division B

• Monmouth County, Manalapan, Monmouth Battlefield State Park
• Ocean County
• Berkeley, Double Trouble State Park
• Berkley, RJ Miller Air Par
• Stafford, Stafford Ridge WMA
• Woodland, Brendan T. Byrne State Forest; Pasadena WMA

On January 13th (see the January 13th NJ Forest Fire Service FB Post): prescribed burning is being conducted (weather dependent) as follows:

• Division A: Somerset County, Franklin Twp, John Clyde Preserve
• Division B: Burlington County, Washington Twp, Warton State Forest, Batsto Section: Burlington County, Washington Twp, Warton State Forest, Batsto Section