NEW YORK (1010 WINS) — Smoke may be seen or smelled across New York City on Saturday after a brush fire in Prospect Park was contained and wildfires burn across New Jersey amid the Tri-State's dry and windy conditions that are bringing extreme fire risk, city officials said.
“It’s 70 degrees in November, and Prospect Park is burning,” Mayor Eric Adams wrote on social media just after midnight on Saturday. “After the driest October on record, NYC is under a DROUGHT WATCH, which highly increases our risk of fires.”
The mayor said that he was on the ground of the Brooklyn blaze with the FDNY, which was being supported by resources from NYC Emergency Management, the NYPD and NYC Parks. The fire was contained, but concerns about lingering smoke and more flare ups continue due to drought conditions.
“I want to assure New Yorkers that we are prepared. Our specialized FDNY brush fire units are equipped and ready to respond to these types of emergencies,” Adams said. “But we’re also asking New Yorkers to do their part by conserving water and immediately reporting any fires by calling 911.”
The FDNY on Saturday said that in the last few weeks, it has responded to hundreds of brush fires across the five boroughs, many of which were minor but some that elevated to multiple alarms and threatened lives or property.
The agency reminded New Yorkers that brush fires can spread quickly, fueled by dry vegetation and windy weather, especially amid a historically dry and warm October and November.
NYCEM Commissioner Zach Iscol spoke to 1010 WINS to discuss the ongoing weather situation, and pointed to the drought watch.
“This is really due to us being in drought conditions,” Iscol said. “Our reservoir system is pretty low right now.”
NYC’s reservoir system, including the Croton and Delaware systems upstate, are below where they need to be. According to Iscol, the systems are down to 65%, where officials generally want to see them above 75% this time of year.
“One of the things that is so difficult about this new normal extreme weather is weather has become increasingly more, increasingly unpredictable,” Iscol said. “But I’m fairly confident that we will be going into a drought warning in the next couple of weeks.”
There are three levels of city water conservation declarations, a drought warning being the second. After that escalation, the situation would become a drought emergency if unresolved, which would mean water conservation requirements at city agencies and for New Yorkers.
NYC was put under an Air Quality Health Advisory through Sunday by the state departments of environmental protection and health. The Air Quality Index is expected to stay at pollution levels of 101 to 150, which means that the air is unhealthy for sensitive groups, who are encouraged to take precautions.
Older adults, children and those with heart and lung conditions are at highest risk, according to health officials. Precautions include staying indoors, limiting strenuous outdoor physical activity, wear well-fitting N95 or KN95 masks and using portable air cleaners.
The alert was issued in the wake of NYC fires as well as blazes on Long Island and in the Bronx, but was mostly due to smoke from several brush fires burning in New Jersey. Gusty winds, dry brush and low humidity is causing fire-ready conditions, and fires were raging in Bergen, Passaic, Ocean, Burlington, Camden and Gloucester counties on Saturday.
In the latest update provided by the New Jersey Forest Fire Service on Saturday, some brush fires are nearly contained while responders are just starting to battle others. Here is a list of the conditions of some of the more serious blazes:
• Jennings Creek Wildfire - West Milford, Passaic County: 0% contained, two residential structures threatened, eight structures in the Long Pond Ironworks Historic District threatened.
• Cannonball 3 Wildfire - Pompton Lakes, Passaic County: 50% contained, 55 structures threatened, zero structures evacuated.
• Englewood Cliffs, Bergen County: 40% contained, zero structures threatened or evacuated.
An update on the status of two other fires—the Shotgun wildfire in Jackson Township, Ocean County and the Bethany Run wildfire in Burlington and Camden counties—was last given at 7 p.m. on Friday, at which point they both were 90% contained.
Iscol encouraged New Yorkers to monitor air quality, and sign up for NotifyNYC, the city’s public messaging system, “so you have the information you need to keep yourself safe.”
To mitigate increased fire risk in NYC, Adams banned grilling in parks on Saturday afternoon and encouraged New Yorkers to conserve water amid the historic drought.
“Effective immediately, we are prohibiting grilling in our parks, and we need all New Yorkers to take commonsense steps to prevent brush fires," Adams said. "Getting through this drought will take all of us working together, and every drop counts, so let’s keep doing our part to save as much water as we can.”
A Red Flag Warning, meaning extreme fire danger, is in place until 6 p.m. on Saturday across much of the NYC area.
"Windy conditions will continue today with northwest winds 10 to 20 mph gusting to 30 mph," The National Weather Service of New York said. "These winds will combine with the persistent dry conditions and relative humidity today from 25 to 30 percent. Any fires that start will spread rapidly—avoid any outdoor burning."
Gov. Kathy Hochul deployed state resources on Saturday afternoon to fight wildfires in Ulster, Sullivan and Orange counties and to provide air quality updates. She also enacted a prohibition on residential brush burning to prevent wildfires.
“With recent drought conditions, there have been multiple wildfires ignited across the state, and we have deployed state assets and agencies to coordinate with local first responders in fighting these fires while closely monitoring air quality as a result of them,” Hochul said. “The safety of all New Yorkers is my top priority, and I urge everyone in impacted areas, especially those vulnerable, to stay alert, monitor air quality, and take necessary precautions to stay safe.”