Fires Flare in Brooklyn’s Prospect Park Amid US East Drought

Brush fires broke out in a major New York City park and in New Jersey on Friday as the worst drought in more than two decades gripped the US Northeast.

Firefighters worked to extinguish a blaze in Brooklyn’s Prospect Park and used drone technology to identify hot spots, the New York City Fire Department said in posts Friday on X, adding that specialized brushfire units were also operating. The fire was reported under control at 9:38 p.m.

While tiny compared to the wildfires that regularly devastate California and other parts of the US, the blaze is an indication of just how dry this fall has been in New York City. Months of parched conditions across the Northeast have led to the region falling under a red flag fire warning Friday and the most extensive regional drought in 22 years.

New York City Mayor Eric Adams said the focus is to keep the fire under control as winds and burning leaves were “making it extremely challenging and difficult” to contain it. He was speaking at Prospect Park, accompanied by the New York City Fire Department’s commissioner and other heads of emergency services.

A passerby first noticed the fire and reported it, Adams told reporters. A city official who was with Adams said the fire covered about two acres in an extremely inaccessible area.

Tim Novikoff, who lives in Park Slope with his wife and kids close to where the fire broke out, went into the park to check on the blaze and assess how safe it was to remain in the area. He said he had experienced some of the worst wildfires in California and was concerned about the dry conditions on his block and the possibility of embers blowing into his neighborhood.

“As soon as I saw that it was contained and there were a bunch of firefighters on scene I wasn’t concerned,” he said, describing the size of the fire as “one-ten thousandth” of what he’d seen in California, and with only brush and not trees aflame.

Earlier Friday, a small fire burning in New Jersey’s Bergen County sent smoke wafting across the Hudson River into New York City.

Firefighters had a 39-acre (15.8-hectare) fire along the Palisades Interstate Parkway partially contained as of Friday afternoon, according to a post on X by the New Jersey Forest Fire Service. The flames were scorching areas around Englewood Cliffs in Bergen County and have closed Henry Hudson Drive.

Winds gusting up to 30 miles per hour (48 kilometers per hour) were sweeping through the New York City area as well as a larger region from Massachusetts to Virginia, including Washington — increasing the possibility of brushfires being fanned out of control.

A parched summer and fall have left the US Northeast almost completely dry, according to the US Drought Monitor. Roughly 94% of the region is listed as abnormally dry or in drought and more than 56% is in drought, the most since 2002.

The most rain New York’s Central Park has received in more than a month was 0.01 inch on Oct. 29, according to the US National Weather Service. So far in November only a trace has fallen, though that may change on Sunday, said Marc Chenard, a senior branch forecaster with the US Weather Prediction Center.

A storm may bring up to 0.5 inches to the New York area Sunday followed by more rain on Wednesday. High pressure across the eastern half of the US has led to the ongoing dry conditions and there are some indications that pattern may be changing.

“Generally in the eastern US the pattern is stagnant,” Chenard said.

The smell of smoke from fires in New Jersey was reported in New York City on Friday and could be seen from Manhattan. The worst air in the region is along the New Jersey coast, centered on Toms River, where it is listed as unhealthy for sensitive groups by AirNow.gov.