Wildfires spread in New York, New Jersey, prompting health advisories

The blaze kills one parks employee and prompts air quality alerts. Meanwhile California wildfire semi-contained.

Fire crews in the United States are working to contain large blazes in the northeastern states of New York and New Jersey, where heavy, smoke-filled air has prompted health warnings in several areas.

The Jennings Creek wildfire has already torched 1,200 hectares (3,000 acres) across the two states, killed a New York parks employee and threatened dozens of structures, officials reported on Monday.

The blaze, spanning 12sq km (4.7sq miles) is only 10 percent contained, according to New Jersey’s Forest Fire Service.

WILDFIRE UPDATE: Jennings Creek Wildfire – West Milford, Passaic County@NJDEPForestFire and the NY Department of Environmental Conservation Division of Forest Protection and Fire Management are in unified command on a wildfire burning in Passaic County, NJ and Orange County, NY pic.twitter.com/xTJ4QQ2aqd

— New Jersey Forest Fire Service (@njdepforestfire) November 11, 2024

On Saturday, the wildfire claimed the life of parks worker Dariel Vasquez, who was fighting the flames in Sterling Forest, New York, when a tree fell on him.

“Wildland firefighting is a very dangerous profession, and we try to take as many precautions as we can to mitigate some of the hazards that are out there,” said Jeremy Oldroyd, a New York state forest ranger. “But occasionally accidents do happen.”

‘Working day and night’

In the New Jersey city of West Milford, veterans postponed their annual Veterans Day ceremony to focus on the firefighting effort.

“Many of those personnel currently engaged with the fires are veterans themselves, and right now, we need to keep them in our thoughts as they spend many hours, day and night, doing all they can in order to protect our great communities in that area,” said Rudy Hass, the local head of the group Veterans of Foreign Wars.

Firefighters battle a series of brush fires outside Pompton Lakes, New Jersey, on November 9, 2024 [Spencer Platt/Getty Images via AFP]

Citizens in eastern parts of the state along with areas in New York were urged to limit strenuous outdoor activity due to the unhealthy air quality caused by the fires.

Meanwhile, firefighters made progress in battling several other outbreaks across the northeast.

New Jersey officials reported 75 percent containment of a 70-hectare (173-acre) fire in the Pompton Lakes area of Passaic County that was threatening 55 homes although no evacuations had been ordered.

In New Jersey, Ocean County prosecutors on Saturday announced arson and firearms charges in connection with a Jackson Township fire that started on Wednesday. The blaze was largely contained by the end of the week, officials said.

They said that fire was sparked by magnesium shards from a shotgun round on a shooting range.

The northeastern US has been experiencing prolonged dry conditions that heighten the risk of fires. New Jersey’s Department of Environmental Protection plans a hearing on Tuesday to review its water supply conditions.

Meanwhile, at the opposite end of the country, authorities have described how firefighters have had to battle fierce, howling winds while rescuing people as a fast-moving Southern California wildfire exploded in size last week.

The Mountain Fire northwest of Los Angeles started on Wednesday and has destroyed at least 168 structures and damaged 67. Public safety officials said at an emotional meeting on Sunday night that they are grateful not to have lost any lives but know people are devastated by the loss of their homes.

Favourable weather helped crews increase containment of the fire to 31 percent by Sunday. The fire’s size remains about 83sq km (32sq miles).

Source

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Al Jazeera and news agencies