The New Fairfield Volunteer Fire Department has been out twice this week for brush fires. Residents are asked to be careful with cigarettes and ashes cleaned out of fireplaces, wood stoves and even pellet stoves. Brush fire season typically begins in early spring before the leaves develop on trees. The lack of canopy allows the sun to dry out the dead vegetation on the forest floor leaving these combustibles tinder dry and easily ignitable. Once the leaves form on the trees, the threat of a brush fire decreases but is still a possibility depending on rainfall.