BY IAN TORRES
A historic drought has left many on the East Coast wondering what’s to come. The city saw a rash of brush fires in neighborhood parks in November, including a small wildfire in an area of Brooklyn’s Prospect Park on Nov. 8.
The two-acre blaze drew about 100 firefighters as residents were warned to stay out of the park. Meanwhile, another fire on the border of New York and New Jersey, along the Jennings Creek, burned thousands of acres, sending smoke drifting across much of New York City and killing an 18-year-old New York state volunteer forest ranger who died while responding to the fire. The fire lasted two weeks before firefighters were able to bring it under control.
The Northeast has been under severe drought conditions for weeks. Firefighters extinguished the Prospect Park fire just as rain moved into New York, helping to clear much of the smoke affecting a large area of Brooklyn. Millions of people in the Northeast remain under red-flag wildfire warnings, which signal conditions where anything that can generate a spark could likely lead to a fire. The dry weather has made the New York region and many wooded areas vulnerable to wildfires. Hundreds of fires have burned through dry leaves and underbrush in green spaces from Brooklyn to Upper Manhattan and around New Jersey, casting a smoky haze over the city’s skyline, blanketing the air with the scent of burning wood.
“Weather patterns are becoming less predictable,” said Mallory Rutigliano, Vice Chair of the Sierra Club Atlantic Chapter. The environmental organization promotes sustainable energy and mitigation of global warming.
For much of the country, October was an extremely hot and dry month. In fact, 2024 is on pace to become the hottest year ever recorded – a declaration that forecasters from the World Meteorological Organization are making with confidence with the end of this year rapidly approaching. According to the US Drought Monitor, the long periods of hot and dry conditions have left every state in the country facing drought — an unprecedented statistic.
According to a report by New York Focus, an independent non-profit newsroom, the risk of fires in New York has grown over the years, while the number of park rangers and volunteer firefighters responsible for preventing these fires as well as extinguishing them remains the same. “We have six million acres of public land in New York state that 100 rangers are protecting,” Robert Praczkajlo, a Department of Environmental Conservation ranger and union leader, told New York Focus.
New drone technology is being used to help treat these new cases of fires. Providing a bird’s eye view of fires and explosions, drones can help observe fire patterns and capture footage of areas that are difficult to reach from the ground. Early detection is possible using software that can capture and analyze signs of smoke and fire. While there are many positives to this new use of technology, there are also some notable limitations. Drones have a short flight time, and are vulnerable to harsh weather such as rain, wind, and extreme temperatures.
Historically, wildfires have rarely been a concern for New Yorkers, burning around 1,400 acres in an average year. But an alarming increase in these kinds of fires has led to warnings about the growing risk of widespread wildfires in the near future and years to come.
While fires seem to be prominently affecting many regions amid the recent drought conditions, city and state reservoirs are also being affected, causing concern for the water supply. Mayor Eric Adams issued a drought watch last month, urging city residents to conserve water. More than 100 miles north of Manhattan, the Schorharie Reservoir was less than a third of its capacity, exposing muddy flats as water continues to recede. Similarly, the Ashokan Reservoir in the Catskill Mountains shared the same fate. Currently, the New York City system is at 63% capacity whereas it is normally around 79%.
The Fire Department of New York Headquarters, the National Resource Defense Council (NRDC) and Union for Concerned Scientists (UCS) did not respond to requests for comment.