ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Starting Saturday, March 16, the annual brush burning ban wil be in place here in New York State.

For the next two months you’re prohibited from burning brush. This is done in an effort to prevent forest and brush fires, as it’s been a drier and warmer winter. Officials from the state’s Department of Environmental Conservation say New York State is at a greater risk for wildfires this spring.

The DEC also says open burning of debris is the single-larges cause of spring wildfires in the state, and forest rangers extinguish dozens of wildfires each year that affect hundreds of acres.