Dozens of firefighters were battling a brush fire in Inwood Hill Park at the northern tip of Manhattan on Wednesday, just days after fires in wooded areas of Brooklyn, the Bronx and New Jersey spread smoke across New York City.
Some 60 emergency responders, along with drones and specialized marine and brush fire units, were deployed to the park, as the flames spread across a wide swath of land.
A fire chief at the scene said it was unclear what started the fire, although the cause did not appear to be suspicious.
The Fire Department first received a call about the fire around 2:30 p.m., the department said. Not long after, large clouds of orange and yellow smoke ascended into the sky from the woods, and officials urged residents nearby to close their windows and to avoid the area.
A video of the fire posted on X by Mark Levine, the Manhattan borough president, showed zigzags of burning leaves among staircases and trees in the park.
The Inwood Hill Park fire is the latest in an unusually high number of brush fires and wildfires to erupt in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, as the region contends with unseasonably dry conditions and gusty winds. Robert S. Tucker, New York City’s fire commissioner, said the department had responded to more than 225 brush fires since Oct. 29.
Gov. Kathy Hochul said on Tuesday that the state was under a burn ban, prohibiting outdoor fires and grilling. The governor urged New Yorkers to conserve water, emphasizing that last month was one of the “driest Octobers” on record.
Lilith Ben-Or, 35, who works as a dog walker, said she was on a walk near the park when the thick smoke and the sound of helicopters overhead started to give her a headache.
Ms. Ben-Or, a lifelong Inwood resident, described the park as a special place for local residents. She said she recalled seeing fires in the area as a child but never one like this.
“This is so much bigger. It’s just hard to imagine what it is going to be like to get back into the park when this stops,” she said.
Inwood Hill Park, overlooking the confluence of the Hudson and Harlem Rivers, is home to 100 acres of woodlands, a salt marsh and some of the last native forests in Manhattan, including the Shorakapok Preserve. The woodlands are known for wildflowers and for century-old red oak and tulip trees that stand up to 90 feet tall, and attract more than 150 bird species such as hairy woodpeckers and black-capped chickadees.
Julio Núñez, 67, said he and his wife had smelled the smoke from their apartment eight blocks away. He has lived in the neighborhood for 40 years, he said, and takes walks in the park every day.
“This is so devastating,” he said, adding, “I’m going to go home and cry.”
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