It’s Wildfire Season in Our Region: What to Know

New Jersey has been under fire (literally) as of late, most notably, the Jones Road Wildfire in Ocean and Lacey Townships, in Ocean County, New Jersey. As of the New Jersey Forest Fire Service’s latest update on April 28, 2025, 15,300 acres have been burned and they have achieved 75% containment.

Why does it appear that we are at an increased and/or elevated risk? Why is the region ripe for more forest fires?

According to an article by Lauren Rosenthal of Insurance Journal, “April’s rains didn’t soak into the ground enough to prevent the fire from erupting at the edge of New Jersey’s pine barrens reserve.” And even with some showers last weekend, low moisture and windy conditions put our area at risk for even more fires.

New Jersey state climatologist, David Robinson, stated, “Traditionally, spring is fire season,” and “In the summer, you’ve got more shade from the trees and higher levels of humidity. This spring, it’s been windy, the air has been dry and we haven’t had rain in days.”

However, we’ve been in a moderate to severe drought for quite some time in New Jersey, and even when it has rained, the showers were too brief and too intense for any of that water to absorb into the soil, creating runoff into rivers and streams in the area.

Insurance Journal quoted Jennifer Francis, Senior Scientist at the Woodwell Climate Research Center in Massachusetts, who indicated that, “Without dampness in the soil, the ground will heat up quickly under bright and direct spring sunlight. ‘That reinforces the dryness and heat in the region that created fire danger in the first place,’ Francis said. ‘It’s kind of a vicious cycle.’”

Source