Firefighters in New Jersey and New York were working on Sunday to contain the latest of several recent wildfires in the region, where the first forecast rainfall in weeks was expected to bring little relief to areas experiencing drought conditions.
The fire has blazed across more than 2,500 acres in Passaic County, N.J., and Orange County, N.Y. — about an hour northwest of New York City. As of Sunday afternoon, it was completely uncontained, according to the New Jersey Forest Fire Service.
An 18-year-old employee of the New York State parks system died on Saturday while fighting the fire. The employee, Dariel Vasquez, was helping to clear a wooded area when a tree fell and hit him, officials said.
Hundreds of fires have burned in the region this fall during an unusually warm and dry season. A brush fire in Brooklyn’s Prospect Park on Friday night blanketed New York City in a smoky smell over the weekend that permeated the streets and seeped into apartment buildings.
By Sunday morning, the air quality in the New York metropolitan region had improved, as winds blew the smoke from New Jersey’s wildfires more toward upstate New York instead of the city, according to the National Weather Service.
But an air quality advisory was still in effect for the New York City area and the lower and upper Hudson Valley — meaning certain groups, including children and older adults, were advised to spend less time outdoors or avoid strenuous outdoor activities.
On Sunday evening, the region is expected to have its first measurable rainfall since late September, according to the National Weather Service.
Still, only a quarter- to a half-inch of rain is expected by Monday morning, an amount unlikely to make a significant impact on drought conditions, meteorologists said. October was the driest month in New York City history.
“That type of rain is not really going to make a huge difference, but given that we haven’t had rain at all, any little bit will help,” said David Stark, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service.
New York City is under its first drought watch in more than 20 years — a level that could escalate to a warning, and then to an emergency, if the city’s reservoirs do not fill up to normal levels. A drought emergency could lead the city to impose mandatory restrictions on water use.
The city has been experiencing an unusually high number of smaller brush fires, officials said, with 120 fires in a recent 10-day span.
Investigators were still examining the cause of the fire in Prospect Park, which burned about two acres and was extinguished by firefighters after three hours. The fire had been reported to the authorities by a bystander.
In central New Jersey, a man was charged with arson on Friday after he was accused of firing an illegal type of ammunition at a shooting range that set off a wildfire in Jackson Township. The fire, which broke out Wednesday and took about two days to contain, burned through 350 acres and forced the evacuation of 15 homes, the authorities said.
On Saturday, Mayor Eric Adams of New York announced a new ban on grilling in the city’s parks and urged residents to conserve water voluntarily, including by taking shorter showers, flushing the toilet only when necessary and fixing leaky faucets.
In Connecticut, officials responded to 12 new fires this weekend, and the fire danger level on Sunday was “extreme,” according to a spokesman for the state’s Department of Energy and Environmental Protection. Some state parks were closed as a result of the fires.
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