An elite workforce of FDNY fireplace marshals, fireplace safety inspectors, and drone operators is being pulled collectively to fight the gorgeous rise in brush fires throughout New York Metropolis exacerbated by the realm’s ongoing drought, the Each day Information has discovered.
The brand new job power might be devoted to coordinating responses to brush fires and investigating every blaze to find out the way it began and the way comparable ones could possibly be stopped earlier than they begin, Hearth Commissioner Robert Tucker stated Sunday as he introduced the brand new workforce.
“By creating this job power, we’re taking actual motion to stop brush fires from occurring, placing protocols in place to maintain our members protected whereas they’re within the discipline, and dealing to establish the causes of those fires after they occur to maintain New Yorkers protected sooner or later,” Tucker stated as he once more referred to as on residents to be aware of sparking brush fires because the drought continues.
As of Thursday, firefighters have responded to 271 brush fires throughout town within the first two weeks of November, from simply extinguishable flare-ups to huge blazes such because the one which destroyed 4 acres of Manhattan’s Inwood Hill Park on Wednesday.
Burning bushes collapsed round firefighters as they fought the blaze by way of the evening, lugging hose traces from the close by Harlem River.
Earlier within the month, firefighters in Brooklyn battled back-to-back blazes sparked in Prospect Park, which is able to want a number of seasons to get well, members of the Prospect Park Alliance stated.
The variety of brush fires this yr was considerably increased than in earlier years, FDNY officers stated, noting that, over the previous three years, firefighters normally battle about 200 brush fires throughout your complete month of October, thought-about one of many driest months in New York Metropolis.
This yr town has seen extra brush fires in half the time. Practically a 3rd of them occurred within the Bronx, FDNY officers stated.
Jeff Bachner/New York Each day NewsFDNY Firefighters reply to East Drive in Prospect Park after NYPD aviation experiences brush on fireplace Saturday. (Jeff Bachner for New York Each day Information)
Brush fires and wildfires have destroyed greater than 8 million acres of land throughout the U.S. this yr, in keeping with the Interagency Hearth Heart.
Members of the FDNY’s new job power will reply to brush fires within the 5 boroughs and assist arrange a plan of assault for the completely different FDNY firms based mostly on wind patterns, witness accounts, and eye-in-the-sky data from drones flown overhead.
Most significantly, the workforce will attempt to decide what sparked the blaze and the way it unfold so rapidly — knowledge that might be pivotal to find methods to stop comparable brush fires from occurring once more, Tucker stated.
Practically all wildfires are sparked by people, in keeping with the state’s Division of Environmental Conservation. Pitching lit cigarettes, burning particles, and different neglectful actions can simply spark an enormous blaze fueled by dry leaves and excessive winds.
The duty power will create risk-assessment fashions, establish spots the place brush fires might flare up, and push prevention suggestions.
Luiz C. Ribeiro for New York Each day NewsFDNY Hearth Commissioner Robert S. Tucker. (Luiz C. Ribeiro for New York Each day Information)
On the similar time, they’ll be working coaching and preparedness workout routines for rank-and-file firefighters that simulate real-life brush fires to reinforce coordination with radios, cell apps, drone feeds, and take a look at tools and techniques, stated FDNY officers.
The duty power may even be sharing their findings with the NYPD, town’s Workplace of Emergency Administration, and the Parks Division to allow them to put collectively plans to restrict the possibilities of different brush fires from erupting.
Because the drought continues, the FDNY is imploring people who smoke to ensure they correctly eliminate their cigarette butts as a substitute of merely flicking them away, and development crews who do “hot construction activities” equivalent to welding shouldn’t do their work close to dry grass or leaves, FDNY officers stated.
Final weekend, Mayor Adams banned grilling in metropolis parks to stop attainable brush fires because the drought continues.
“We need the public to remain vigilant,” Tucker stated Wednesday.
Anybody wishing to study extra about stopping brush fires can go online to FDNYsmart.org.
