The FDNY battled a major brush fire in Manhattan on Wednesday afternoon—mere days after other wooded fires erupted in Brooklyn, the Bronx, and New Jersey.
The New York Metro area has been facing extremely dry conditions lately, with Red Flag Warnings in place due to the high risk of wildfires. Unfortunately, two such fires occurred in Inwood Hill Park in Manhattan yesterday.
These fires broke out around 3 p.m. and quickly spread, with smoke covering parts of Manhattan. One occurred at Seaman Avenue and West 207th Street while a second occurred at West 218th Street and Indian Road, per Eyewitness News.
According to the New York Times, around 140 emergency responders arrived at the scene. New York City Mayor Eric Adams made sure to update residents as the situation escalated.
“New Yorkers in and around Inwood, our teams are responding and monitoring the large plumes of smoke you may have seen in the sky caused by a burning brush fire,” Adams wrote on X. “During this time, it’s a good idea to close your windows, turn air purifiers on, and avoid traveling in the area.”
The FDNY also shared updates on X last night, including videos of firefighters battling the “extensive” fires.
“We’ve been here about four hours fighting a third alarm brush fire,” Fire Commissioner Robert Tucker stated. He noted that the conditions are “very treacherous” and that the firefighters would be working well into the morning hours.
“Very grateful to the Parks department, to Emergency Management and all of our partners throughout city government who are helping FDNY deal with an unusual amount of fires in our parks in the last few weeks,” Tucker added.
Chief of Fire Operations Kevin Woods also spoke up, deeming the brush fire to be “very, very large” and “extensive.”
“We had many challenges here due to the terrain, the elevation, and we had water issues as well,” he said. “There aren’t fire hydrants in the middle of a forest, so we had a draft from the Harlem River. We had to stretch hose lines approximately 150 feet or more up a hill to extinguish multiple fires.”
He added that multiple trees collapsed, making the operation even more dangerous for firefighters. Thankfully, the fires are now under control, and there were no reported injuries.
The post Another Brush Fire Erupts in Manhattan Amid ‘Severe Drought’ appeared first on VICE.
The post Another Brush Fire Erupts in Manhattan Amid ‘Severe Drought’ appeared first on VICE.
