New Jersey § 13:9-20 Burning forest;  permit;  back fires;  liability; recreational or  permitted fire;  precautions

New Jersey Statutes

§ 13:9-20 — Burning forest; permit; back fires; liability; recreational or permitted fire; precautions

New Jersey § 13:9-20

Title 13CONSERVATION AND DEVELOPMENT--PARKS AND RESERVATIONS

This text of New Jersey § 13:9-20 (Burning forest; permit; back fires; liability; recreational or permitted fire; precautions) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering New Jersey primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook

N.J. Stat. Ann. § 13:9-20 (2026).

Text

No person shall, unless granted a permit by the department, set fire to or burn, or cause to be burned, any forest, but nothing in this section shall be interpreted to forbid any person from setting a back fire upon his own property to protect the same; but, if such permitted back fire be allowed to escape or does escape to adjoining property, the person setting such back fire, or causing it to be set, shall be subject to costs of extinguishment and all damage incurred upon the property of another. Any firewarden, however, shall have power to set any back fire. Any person maintaining a recreational fire or a permitted fire or a fire to burn any brush, grass, litter, undergrowth or other material shall keep and maintain a competent watch. All reasonable precautions must be taken to prevent 

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No person shall, unless granted a permit by the department, set fire to or burn, or cause to be burned, any forest, but nothing in this section shall be interpreted to forbid any person from setting a back fire upon his own property to protect the same; but, if such permitted back fire be allowed to escape or does escape to adjoining property, the person setting such back fire, or causing it to be set, shall be subject to costs of extinguishment and all damage incurred upon the property of another. Any firewarden, however, shall have power to set any back fire. Any person maintaining a recreational fire or a permitted fire or a fire to burn any brush, grass, litter, undergrowth or other material shall keep and maintain a competent watch. All reasonable precautions must be taken to prevent its escape from control. No such fire shall be left until extinguished or certified by a firewarden to be safely contained. Amended by L.1981, c. 369, s. 25, eff. Dec. 30, 1981.