FDNY creates task force, will use drones in fight against rash of brush fires

There are more than 2,000 public parks in New York City, each dotted with lush trees, bushes and fields.

The parks provide refuge for residents of a go-go-go city. But they also make the area more prone to brush fires during droughts. From Nov. 1 to Thursday, amid a historic dry spell, there were 271 fires, the most over a two-week period in city history.

Now, the FDNY has created its first Brush Fire Task Force, composed of fire marshals, fire inspectors and tactical drones.

"By creating this task force, we are taking real action to prevent brush fires from occurring, putting protocols in place to keep our members safe while they are in the field, and working to identify the causes of these fires after they happen to keep New Yorkers safe in the future," FDNY Commissioner Robert Tucker said Sunday in a statement.

The creation of the city's task force comes as a wildfire straddling the New York-New Jersey border upstate has raged for more than a week. Saturday evening, several hundred residents in Orange County were asked to evacuate as the Jennings Creek fire jumped a containment line, according to The Associated Press. The fire, which has burned more than 5,000 acres across New York and New Jersey, was 88% contained Saturday. 

Firefighters from 37 Nassau and Suffolk fire departments have been sent in shifts to help fight the stubborn Jennings Creek fire, authorities said.

"It really all comes down to the same thing, and the brush is no different in New York City than it is up in Orange County, it’s extremely dry," Nassau County Fire Marshal Michael Uttaro said. "It’s deeply dry. So the problem is, when these fires start, not only are you seeing the fire on top, but the fire is burning under the brush as well.

"If you’ve ever walked in a forest, or a park into the woods, it’s old leaves, it’s old twigs, it’s old combustible, natural debris," Uttaro said Sunday.

Last weekend, a fire in Prospect Park in Brooklyn garnered headlines after it burned 2 acres of a wooden stretch in the 526-acre park

John Murray, a National Weather Service meteorologist, attributed the lack of rain to recent high-pressure weather systems, which lead to increased wind and fewer clouds.

"We haven’t had many storm systems move across the area," Murray said. "When we have a funnel system move across, we’ve found that it’s come across dry, with hardly any rainfall."

The FDNY task force will use drones to assess at-risk areas before fires break out, as well as during fires to provide real-time situational awareness. The task force will also gather data on wind patterns, topography and fire-prone areas to help prevent fires. After fires, task force members will conduct investigations using burn patterns, weather conditions and witness reports.

In its announcement, the FDNY encouraged New Yorkers to avoid outdoor burning, including campfires, bonfires and any other open flames, and to be mindful of smoking.

"It's a community effort," Uttaro said. "We'll put the fires out, but we'd rather they not start in the first place."

By Joshua Needelman

joshua.needelman@newsday.com

Joshua Needelman covers the Town of North Hempstead for Newsday. A Long Island native and University of Maryland graduate, his work has appeared in publications including The New York Times and The Washington Post.