Dry weather sparks wildfires in New Jersey

Dry conditions and low humidity have created a high danger for wildfires, especially in wooded areas, a New Jersey state official warned. Commissioner Bob Martin of the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection said the state is using more than a dozen fire trucks along with bulldozers, helicopters and air tankers to control a fire in the Pinelands National Reserve, Environment News Service reported Tuesday. "Our crews are working very hard to contain and extinguish this fire, and to insure that area residents are protected," Martin said. The forests are surrounded by housing developments, commercial property and key transportation corridors. A smaller fire broke out at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst located southeast of Trenton. The fire was reported 80 percent controlled by Monday evening. Since Jan. 1 there have been 472 forest fires in New Jersey compared to 214 during the same period last year, the state Department of Environmental Protection said. In New York, a large brush fire broke out at the site of a former Staten Island landfill, forcing cancellation of a planned protest, the State Island Advance reported.