New Jersey’s Forest Fire Service conducted controlled burns on Tuesday morning while also offering a lesson for high school students. 

“I am achieving my goal, getting a little piece of ground burnt,” says Daele Carey, of the New Jersey Forest Fire Service. “They’re doing the after-effect. They’re able to study the ground and see the after-effects of what fire does and put back into the soil.”

For the second straight year, the New Jersey Forest Fire Service and students at Jackson Liberty High School have teamed up, just a few hundred yards from the school, for a hands-on lesson in science and the value of controlled burns. 

“Well last year in AP biology, we studied the cell communication stuff behind it and more of the biology and this year is studying the environmental aspects of it,” says sophomore Reese Lobur.

Geoff Brignola, the school’s principal, says thanks to grants from various corporations, students will take the experience to another level, adding the timing of the controlled burn couldn’t be better. 

“Especially with the Lakewood fires that just happened, it’s really good for the kids to see,” says Brignola. “Barcoding with DNA for ants. So now, they’re going to be able to do those same areas that have been affected and some areas that haven’t been affected by fire.”