New York City awoke Saturday to the acrid smell of smoke that left a haze hanging over the skyline as several wildfires burned in the region, including a new blaze sparked in the early morning hours near the northern New York-New Jersey border.
The New Jersey Forest Fire Service battled the latest outbreak in Pompton Lakes, Passaic County, which as of midday Saturday had burned 100 acres and threatened 55 structures, the agency posted on social media.
No part of the fire was contained and efforts to halt its spread by state and local crews were hampered by strong, gusty winds. Chilly temperatures trapped smoke near to the ground and caused poor air quality in the region, leading state officials to issue a warning that going outside could be unhealthy for people sensitive to air pollution.
A Forest Fire Service helicopter capable of dropping 350 gallons of water was deployed to the area Saturday morning.
A second fire in Passaic County scorched 1,800 acres and threatened 10 structures – it was 0% contained. And a third, a 39-acre blaze near the Palisades Interstate Parkway in Englewood Cliffs, Bergen County, was 40% contained.
Elsewhere in the Garden State, fires that broke out Wednesday and Thursday in Jackson Township and Burlington and Camden Counties were both 90% contained. Crews remained on the scenes to address areas of concern until significant precipitation fell.
Smoke is expected to remain present until significant rain falls, according to the NJ Department of Environmental Protection.
The National Weather Service said the region could see up to a quarter inch of rainfall Sunday night, but that will do little to ease the situation. Parts of NJ have not had measurable rain in more than 40 days are experiencing extreme drought conditions.
New York City was placed under drought watch last week, after the driest October in recorded history. Drought watches are also in place for New Jersey and Pennsylvania.
Less than an inch of rain fell in the Big Apple last month, compared to the historical average of about 4 inches.
More than 100 firefighters responded to a two-acre inferno that broke out Friday night in a densely wooded area of Brooklyn’s Prospect Park. It was snuffed out around 10 p.m.
The cause remains under investigation, FDNY said.
“It’s 70 degrees in November, and Prospect Park is burning,” Mayor Adams posted on X just after midnight on Saturday with photos from the scene of the brush fire.
“After the driest October on record, NYC is under a DROUGHT WATCH, which highly increases our risk of fires,” he added.
It’s been a firey week across the five boroughs.
Thursday, firefighters extinguished a brush fire that tore through a wooded area just blocks from Historic Richmondtown. It was the sixth such fire since Tuesday in the borough, including blazes that scorched a portion of Clove Lakes Park and another that swept through a large section of Brookfield Park in Great Kills, the Staten Island Advance reported.
On Monday, a brush fire broke out in Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx. The FDNY sent 12 units of 60 fire and EMS personnel to the scene near the Major Deegan Expressway, according to reports.
With the wind gusting up to 30 mph, the National Weather Service issued a Red Flag Warning the city, Long Island and the Lower Hudson Valley, until 6 p.m. Saturday stating, “Any fire that develops will catch and spread quickly.”
Crews also fought flames in upstate New York’s Ulster, Sullivan and Orange counties.
The Whitehouse Fire in Ulster and Sullivan counties, which is burning through approximately 300 to 400 acres, is expected to spread, according to a release from Gov. Hochul’s Office.
Park Forest Rangers and other personnel also responded to a 300-acre fire that began near the intersection of the Lake to Lake Trail and the West Valley Trail and extended into New Jersey.
State personnel were also assigned to fire watch and response duties on Long Island, officials said.
