Official Site of The State of New Jersey

Hope Gruzlovic
(609)292-8896
hope.gruzlovic@ag.state.nj.us

Extremely cold temperatures forecast for Wednesday and Thursday evenings, April 18 and 19, could seriously affect fruit crops in or near bloom around the state. Therefore, Agriculture Secretary Art Brown, Jr., and requested and received from NJDEP authorization for open burning to help fruit farmers protect their crops. No tires can be burned as part of this authorization. Under the terms of the authorization, no open burning is permitted unless the temperature within the orchard area is at or below the critical temperature for the bud stage and the wind velocity is less than five miles per hour. Both conditions must be met before open burning may occur. The average temperature required to kill ten percent of the buds is defined as the critical temperature (see attached chart). Farmers may only conduct open burning with approved permits or approval from NJDEP. Farmers who believe that open burning is required to protect their blossoms or young buds MUST FIRST CONTACT NJDEP's Office of Compliance and Enforcement, Administrator of Air and Environmental Quality, at (609) 633-7288 to request approval. After 5:00 p.m. the request should be made to NJDEP's 24-hour Communication Center at 1-877-WARN-DEP. Farmers must provide the following information:

• Name of the individual who is to conduct the open burning and/or the responsible party;
  name of farm, street address (no P.O. Box), telephone number of farm contact;
  predicted orchard temperature in degree F and predicted wind speed;
  expected hours of open burning;

• material which will be open burned.

If the farmer does not know in advance that the critical temperature AND low wind velocity will occur, notice of such burning may be provided the following morning no later than 9:00 a.m. Farmers may use smudge pots or open burn clean scrap lumber (untreated), felled trees, prunings, hedge grows, or fire wood. Farmers must make every effort to obtain and use approved smudge pots. These pots must be fueled with either kerosene or #2 fuel oil. No refuse trade waste, garbage, etc., is to be combined with the authorized burning material. Farmers will not be permitted to open burn tires to protect their fruit crops. Once the open burning is completed, the farmer must contact either of the listed numbers to provide the identification used in the open burning request, the actual orchard temperature in degrees Fahrenheit, actual wind speed at the orchard location and a statement that all restrictions in the open burning approval were followed. Failure to adhere to these provisions may result in appropriate enforcement action.

Old standard temperature represents the critical temperature in Fahrenheit ( the lowest temperature that can be endured for 30 minutes with damage). In addition, the chart shows the temperature at which 10% and 90% of normal buds will be killed.