If you've smelled smoke and even seen ash falling from the sky in Ocean County recently, it's all part of the efforts to prevent uncontrolled wildfires.
The New Jersey Forest Fire Service is extending its controlled burning season due to this winter's severe weather.
Controlled or "prescribed" burns generally take place between the end of November and the middle of March, but the extremely cold and wet conditions have prompted officials to extend this year's time frame until April 1...
With a goal of lessening the likelihood of massive forest fires in New Jersey, reintroduced legislation would set standards for state-run controlled burns, and allow private individuals to conduct such burns on their own property.
Seeing smoke from densely-wooded sections of Ocean and Monmouth County? If so, that means the New Jersey Forest Fire Service is doing its job of burning away dead underbrush that's accumulated through the long, harsh winter.