well the state forest fire service isn't taking any chances after last year's especially active season the Department's officials are preparing for even more intense fires and a longer Wildfire season which typically runs from mid-march through May that's when the temperatures go up humidity goes down and winds get stronger to help the state is doubling down on an age-old tactic in preventing wildfires you Melissa Rose Cooper reports residents and visit should not become complacent just because the amount of rain we've had here in March and April you know it only takes a day or two with the wind blowing and warmer temperatures like you have today and no matter how wet it was yesterday by today we could be having fires a strong message from state forest fire Warden and chief of the forest fire service Bill Donnelly as New Jersey is in the midst of its peak Wildfire season New Jersey Spring Fire season typically runs from mid-march through miday during this time of year trees underbrush of not yet leafed up and relative humidity is typically low windy days are very common and the combination of these factors means Forest lands dry out quickly and when they dry out quickly we have uh we have fires the State Department of Environmental Protection forest fire service hosting this webinar providing the public with the tools and resources they need to mitigate the risk of wildfire which officials say is higher due to climate change we increasingly see dry conditions between heavy rainfalls and what we have come to know as flash droughts last year the research nonprofit climate Central conducted a nationwide analysis of weather conditions during the past 50 years and found that the annual number of fire weather days has risen by 10 days in northern New Jersey and four days in Southern New Jersey John Cecil assistant commissioner for state parks forest and historic sites says those findings mirror the D's own climate change scientific reports stating longer Wildfire Seasons as well as an increase in larger fires last year nearly 1,200 wildfires burned roughly 18,000 Acres across the state making it the most active fire year in New Jersey in more than a decade 14 of them were considered major burning more than 100 acres through last year's state budget the Murphy Administration responded to the busy fire year and these challenging conditions that we've been facing by supporting the forest fire service with a $3 million budget boost to enhance protection of lives and property through investments in new equipment and staff one of the ways the forest fire service is working to mitigate Wildfire is with its network of 21 fire towers and observers and what their job is is they take weather readings they maintain uh the weather that's outside and they look for smoke um and once they see smoke they will triangulate it and uh pinpoint the location of the fire and we will send resources right away depending on the fire we'll dispatch aircraft fire fire trucks bulldozers water tenders typically the fire Towers see these smokes before anybody actually reports them so having the towers up uh Prov to be very beneficial as far as early detection and uh quick responses made by our folks out in the field our equipment that we use are brush trucks they're constructed inhouse and they're very specialized particularly in the southern part of the State uh they're designed to go off-road push down trees push down brush get to a fire even if it's in a remote location suppress that fire quickly Forest officials say they're successful in keeping about 75% or more of all fires under 5 Acres but they want residents and visitors to know the importance of everyone working together that includes avoiding leaving smoking materials like cigarettes and matches on the ground keeping lighters away from children and never leaving fires unattended for NJ Spotlight news I'm Melissa Rose Cooper [Music]