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Although overnight rainfall was reported, New York and New Jersey fires spread on Monday, driven by wind from strong gusts. The fire, burning some 5,000 acres and containing just 20%, brings attention to the unusual surge in wildfire activity on the East Coast following fires set against the backdrop of California’s all-too-common wildfires.
So far, the Jennings Creek Fire, located about 30 miles outside New York City, has been a tough nut for New York and New Jersey to crack as each garnered half of the containment. Even though rain had given them some time to rest, officials said the strong winds continued to speed up the fire’s spread. Sadly, an 18-year-old firefighter, Daniel Vasquez, from the New York State Parks Department, was reported to have died in the wilderness while fighting the mountain fire in Sterling Forest near Greenwood Lake.
In California, the fire situation needs to improve as some 2,000 firefighters continue to confine the 20,630-acre Mountain Fire some 50 miles northwest of Los Angeles. At 36%, containment would be complicated by gusts up to 45 miles per hour. The Mountain Fire, which started on Wednesday, has burned over 160 structures and continues threatening the surrounding communities.
Even up to half an inch of much-needed rainfall today was reported in some East Coast cities, including rain-starved Trenton, New Jersey, which went 42 days without any. However, forecasters say the short-term relief will only stay short or put a dent in the drought or long-term fire danger. Fire danger levels were temporarily lowered from “extreme” to “very high” in northern New Jersey, while southern New Jersey remains at extreme fire risk. Central New Jersey was under a moderate fire danger level on Monday.
New Jersey’s forest fire service has reported about ten wildfires over the past week. In Englewood Cliffs, across the Hudson River, residents have noticed haze and smoke from fires near here over the weekend. Meanwhile, New York City’s Prospect Park had a two-acre fire in Brooklyn’s Ravine area, the park’s last remaining forest, doused by Saturday.
Adding to the issues, officials detained a 37-year-old New Jersey man for alleged violations of arson and firearms. Local authorities claim he fired a shot from a shotgun that ignited combustibles and started a wildfire in Ocean County. That wraps up the swelling threat of human-caused fires in the area.
As firefighters continue to battle naturally occurring and human-inspired wildfires, the extreme wildfire conditions witnessed on the East Coast and the continuing challenges California faces concerning fires define the nation’s heightened fire risks.