New Jersey Forest Fire Service

You may have seen a cloud of black smoke billowing over Ocean County today. Here's your chance to take a closer look!

If you see flames rising through the woods in Berkeley Township today, no need to be alarmed.

New Jersey forest fire officials warn that with the onset of spring, the risk of fires in Jersey's woods increases.

Gathering clouds and an increasing chance of showers through midweek send New Jersey Forest Fire Service crews into woodlands of four Central and South Jersey counties today, conducting prescribed burns to clear dead underbrush.

Brick Township folks can expect the air to be redolent with smoke today, while a prescribed burn in woods near Ridge Road continues.

While there's still about a month left for controlled burns, New Jersey State Forest Fire Service crews are taking advantage of each dry day with low winds to gain progress against potential summer Pinelands wildfires. Today's prescribed burns take place in Stafford and Lacey Townships.

Before tonight's rain sets in, New Jersey Forest Fire Service staffers seize the opportunity to clear away flammable dead underbrush with controlled burns in Ocean and Stafford Townships in southern Ocean County.

Smoke overhead and choppers hovering - normally an ominous sign for inhabitants of thickly-forested sections of the shore, but not this time.

A quickly-extinguished Monday brush fire in Manchester leaves three acres of woods largely charred and folks in a nearby neighborhood breathing a sigh of relief. But how it started remains a mystery.

If you spot smoke drifting over forested sections of the shore and South Jersey between now and April 1, in most cases, it isn't a worry. It's aimed at preventing massive fire and smoke later this year.