2021 wildfire season: prescribed burning in NJ (April 9th)

This is our spring wildfire season here in New Jersey, our 21 fire lookout towers are all staffed today, our SEATs and helicopter are ready to go to help the firefighters on the ground should the call come. We did have some high fire weather concerns earlier this week, I do not know of any larger wildfires, and I still have no access to any kind of numbers on wildfire activity in New Jersey. Once the updates to the NJ Forest Fire Service web page are completed, I am sure that there will be some numbers available to the public.

Today the weather appears favorable for prescribed burning in northern New Jersey. The New Jersey Forest Fire Service is conducting two prescribed burns in northern New Jersey today, April 9th (go to this NJFFS Facebook page for more information. As always, this schedule is weather dependent and subject to change.

• Sussex County, Walpack Township, Walpack Wildlife Management Area
• Warren County, Mansfield Township, Pequest Wildlife Management Area

There is a very nice article by Nancy Parello in the Spring 2021 issue of Jersey's Best about the NJ Forest Fire Service: On the front lines: Elite N.J. Forest Fire Service charged with protecting life and land. It is a great article, please take a few moments to read this article. You will learn about fighting wildfires in New Jersey, mutual aid, and prescribed burning. What Ms. Parello reports on prescribed burning fits right in to this post on prescribed burns:

While battling blazes is an important part of their work, preventing fires may be even more critical. That also means using fire to fight fire, using “prescribed” or controlled burns — a practice that dates back to Native Americans who set fires to maintain an ecological balance between the forests and the land.

  

“The best way to manage this situation is to actively manage the land and try to create forests that are healthy and less prone to large wildfires,’’ McLaughlin said. (Greg McLaughlin is Chief of the NJ Forest Fire Service)

 

These controlled burns clear out dried leaves, brush and branches that fuel wildfires. The fire service strategically sets these fires each year, targeting areas dense with old trees and thick kindling.

  

“We work through a very planned process,” McLaughlin said. “We use technology like GIS (geographic information system mapping) and field data collection to determine which areas need to be treated.”

 

“Without the prescribed burns, the same situation could happen here that happens in California,” Robertson added. “There’s so much flammable material that it would build up.”