New Jersey · Burn Bans

The rule today

In any district where Firewardens have been appointed, a permit (the written permission of the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection) is required before you set fire to, or cause to be burned, waste, fallows, stumps, logs, brush, dry grass, fallen timber or any other material or vegetation that could cause a forest fire (N.J.S.A. 13:9-19). A separate department permit is required before setting fire to or burning any forest (N.J.S.A. 13:9-20); the one exception is a back fire set on your own property to protect it, and if that back fire escapes to adjoining property you are liable for the cost of extinguishment and all damage. Within the designated protection area this permit requirement supersedes any other law. Under N.J.S.A. 13:9-44.10 a violation carries a civil penalty of not more than $5,000 for each offense, a fine of not more than $100,000 for each offense where the violation is a crime, and a civil administrative penalty of not more than $5,000 for each violation plus not more than $500 for each day the violation continues. Separately, the New Jersey Forest Fire Service publishes staged campfire and agricultural burning restrictions on its Conditions and Restrictions Dashboard, and those restrictions change as fire danger changes. LawLert cannot retrieve today's New Jersey restriction level, so this entry gives the standing law and not today's level: check the dashboard at dep.nj.gov/parksandforests/wildfire/conditions-restrictions-dashboard/, and your municipality and local fire official, before any open burning or campfire. Treat a fire as restricted until the dashboard confirms otherwise.

✓ Verified against the official source · October 2, 2026 · Official source ↗