The weather is warming up, but the change can bring a new concern - New Jersey's spring wildfire season. Despite this wet winter, the state is under a drought warning.

The state Department of Environmental Protection and the state Forest Fire Service announced $90,000 in grants to 22 communities most at risk. These include Barnegat, Waretown, Toms River and Manchester in Ocean County, plus Hardwick Township in Warren County and as far south as Egg Harbor Township in Atlantic County.

New Jersey has seen its share of damaging wildfires all over the state. The "Jones Road Wildfire" of 2025 burned more than 15,000 acres across Lacey, Barnegat and Waretown.

The year before that, the "Jennings Creek Wildfire" of 2024 burned the New Jersey-New York border near West Milford for two weeks.

The grant funding aims to reduce the wildfire risk by cleaning up the “fuels.” The grants also include what’s called “home hardening," like installing fire-resistant landscaping or completely removing vegetation around the homes closest to the danger zone.

Experts at the New Jersey Conservation Foundation call it now the “Prescribed Fire Season.” Residents may see a controlled burn to prevent a larger, uncontrolled fire. The spring wildfire season in New Jersey lasts from mid-March to mid-May.