Shawn LaTourette, New Jersey's environmental protection commissioner, uses a "drip torch" to ignite small fires in a section of the Bass River State Forest in Little Egg Harbor Township, N.J., on Wednesday, March 2. It is part of an effort by the New Jersey Forest Fire Service to set small fires to burn pine needles, dead leaves and other combustible materials on the forest floor to prevent a potential future wildfire from being much worse. AP Photo/Wayne Parry