Firefighters from coast to coast are battling wildfires even as the country begins to prepare for the holiday season, with fires in New Jersey covering thousands of acres in tinderbox conditions created by a historic drought.
In California, the so-called Mountain Fire in Ventura County has grown to 20,000 acres, or 31 square miles, and was only 26% contained Sunday night, the Ventura County Fire Department said in an update. Threats remains there to critical infrastructure, highways and communities as the fire “continues to creep and smolder in steep rugged terrain,” a public information officer said.
The blazes in the Northeast have claimed at least one life: Dariel Vasquez, an 18-year-old New York Parks employee, was killed Saturday by a falling tree while battling a fire in Sterling Forest, in New York’s Orange County. A memorial service will be held for him at Ramapo High School on Monday.
The Jennings Creek Wildfire in Passaic County, New Jersey, close to the New York state line, had grown from 2,500 to 3,000 acres — about 4.6 square miles — and was only 10% contained as of 6.30 p.m. Sunday, the New Jersey Forest Fire Service said. At least 25 structures are threatened.
While there was a small amount of rain Sunday night, authorities warn it will not be enough.
“Make no mistake, though, precipitation is forecasted [but] that’s not going to solve the problem that we have here with this wildfire. It’s inevitable that this fire is going to continue to burn up until it reaches our control line,” New Jersey Forest Fire Service Chief Bill Donnelly said at a news conference Sunday.
He said the fire would likely burn through the end of this week, when the service hopes it can secure its control lines and contain the blaze. More than 200 local volunteers joined 75 wildland firefighters yesterday in attempts to battle the flames.
But he added that it was unlikely homes would need to be evacuated.
The fire department in Warwick, New York, told residents on Cliff Road, east of Greenwood Lake, to leave but stopped short of a mandatory evacuation order. Power was shut down Sunday night in Greenwood Lake Village as a preventive measure and a local shelter was set up by the American Red Cross, the force said.
“Not only is the fire burning on top of the ground, but it’s burning under the ground, so it’s very labor intense,” he said. “To put these fires out takes a lot of time and energy, and you can see by those numbers, we’ve been running our folks ragged”
Historically dry conditions and strong winds have created the perfect conditions for fires to thrive. Three counties in New Jersey are experiencing a rate “extreme” drought, while the rest of the state has severe or moderate drought conditions, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
Donnelly called it the driest fall in New Jersey since records began.
The result is Donnelly’s teams have been called to 537 reports of wildfires in New Jersey alone since Oct. 1, burning through a total of 4,500 acres, or 7 square miles. In New York state, the total is 60 wildfires covering 2,100 acres in the same timeframe.
One blaze, the Hill Fire in Burlington County, has been burning since July 5, he said. Elsewhere, the 181-acre Cannonball 3 Wildfire was 100% contained Sunday.
There was some rain across the tristate area Sunday night, but less than half an inch, the National Weather Service in Mount Holly said.
Much of the Northeast has been experiencing a record lack of rain, with some areas such as Philadelphia without any precipitation for 42 days until Sunday’s shower.
