Citing an increasing risk of wildfires in the state due to climate change, New Jersey Commissioner of Environmental Protection Shawn LaTourette today announced that the Murphy Administration is providing an additional $3 million to the New Jersey Forest Fire Service budget to enhance protection of lives and property through investments in new equipment and staff.
The investment was announced as part of a ceremony at Coyle Field Forest Fire Service air attack base in Burlington County, during which the DEP’s Forest Fire Service also presented awards to individuals and agencies that have assisted during New Jersey’s most active wildfire season in more than a decade.
The funding announcement and awards presentation coincided with Climate Week, which runs from Sept. 17 through 24.
The $3 million investment will help upgrade the Forest Fire Service’s aging fleet of equipment.
All fire engines used by the Forest Fire Service are constructed and modified in-house at the service’s Research and Development facility, resulting in significant cost savings.
These specially designed engines are equipped to access difficult-to-reach areas of New Jersey’s forests while keeping firefighters safe during a growing wildfire.
Additional funds will also be made available to expand the Forest Fire Service’s contracted air support during peak spring fire season and to help fund full-time employees that will fill critical vacancies.
Wildfire season in New Jersey has historically been from mid-March through mid-May but has increased noticeably in length during the past decade, with major wildfires occurring in February and extending into summer.
In New Jersey, 99 percent of wildfires are caused by people, through accidents, carelessness and arson. The remainder are caused by lightning strikes.
Major wildfires continued to flare through this summer, with the most recent being the Dragway Wildfire in late August that burned 1,778 acres, and the Airpark Wildfire that burned more than 800 acres during Labor Day weekend. Both fires were in the wildfire-prone Pinelands region.
To date in 2023, the Forest Fire Service has responded to 1,034 wildfires which have burned 17,979 acres in New Jersey.
Fourteen of these fires were considered to be major wildfires burning in excess of 100 acres, making 2023 the busiest fire season in more than a decade.