What is all that smoke? It could be the prescribed burning in Passaic County today

Amanda Wallace , NorthJersey.com
·2 min read
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If you are seeing smoke coming from a nearby wooded area, don’t be alarmed.

The New Jersey Forest Fire Service announced through its X page, formerly Twitter, on Thursday that they will be conducting prescribed burning operations in Ringwood State Park in Passaic County. On Wednesday, they also conducted burning operations in Jefferson Township in Morris County.

For anybody who does not know, prescribed burning is a fire mitigation strategy conducted in areas that are at risk of forest fires.

According to the U.S. Forest Service, “The Forest Service manages prescribed fires and even some wildfires to benefit natural resources and reduce the risk of unwanted wildfires in the future.”

“After many years of fire exclusion, an ecosystem that needs periodic fire becomes unhealthy. Trees are stressed by overcrowding; fire-dependent species disappear, and flammable fuels build up and become hazardous.”

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To combat these issues, state departments such as the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection and the New Jersey Forest Service conduct controlled burning. Creating controlled fire in areas that need it has many benefits such as mitigation of hazardous fuels, improving the habitat for native plants and animals, managing pests and competition among plants, and more.

New Jersey’s wildfire season typically peaks between mid-March through May. As of Sept. 21, the Forest Fire Service had responded to 1,034 wildfires in New Jersey this year having burnt 17,979 acres according to the NJDEP. Out of the 1,034 fires 14 of them were considered major wildfires. This has been the busiest fire season in over 10 years.

Check out the NJ Prescribed Burn Notification Map to see active and scheduled burns around the state.

The NJDEP requests that if you are in doubt about the source of smoke of fire call 911 or 877-WARN-DEP (877-927-6337).

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Passaic County NJ prescribed burns causing smoky sky