New York’s largest wildfire since 2008 is successfully contained by firefighters.
(WNY News Now)After 14 days of ceaseless efforts by state, local, and out-of-state firefighting crews, Sterling Forest State Park, NY Governor Kathy Hochul confirmed yesterday that the Jennings Creek wildfire, which had been burning in Sterling Forest State Park close to the New York-New Jersey border, is now completely contained. The largest wildfire to hit New York since 2008 has now been successfully put out.
Firefighters and professionals from all around the state battled the Jennings Creek wildfire for two weeks, and today they were able to completely control it, according to Governor Hochul.We started a coordinated reaction right away, using every resource at our disposal to assist our first responders in finishing this task. We would not have been able to accomplish this without the assistance of our Colorado and Montana crews, as well as the professional and volunteer crews who collaborated with our colleagues in New Jersey. I want to express my gratitude to each and every one of them for their dedication, taking time away from their families and working nonstop every day to ensure the safety of New Yorkers.
The Governor responded by deploying additional State assets, including as State Police Huey helicopters, Army National Guard Black Hawk and Chinook helicopters, and people. approximately the course of a week, these aircraft collectively poured approximately 500,000 gallons of water into the fire. In order to contain the fire, the State also sent out bulldozers, bulldozer operators, and other qualified personnel and volunteers. More than 1,300 firefighters and equipment have been sent to assist since Nov. 10 by 427 fire companies, almost all of whom are volunteers. Responders used both aerial and ground tactics to combat this fire. The area received much-needed moisture from the two days of nonstop rain and snow, which served as a blanket to lower the ground temperature and put out the fire.
Since November 8, the fire has burned 5,304 acres in New Jersey and New York. The fire is completely under control and contained. Consequently, volunteer teams and the State’s Incident Management Team have demobilized. Throughout the rain and snow late this week, qualified fire crews from DEC, Parks Forest Rangers, and Montana will continue to patrol the perimeter and perform mop-up operations as necessary until the fire is fully extinguished. However, some areas of the fire may still be in the park’s deeper forested interior.
New York still has a statewide burn restriction in place until November 30 owing to an elevated risk of fire, even if recent rains have helped alleviate the dry conditions in many areas of the state. Throughout the state, this burn ban forbids the lighting of open fires for cooking, uncontained campfires, and outdoor burning for the removal of vegetation and debris. Small, contained cooking fires are permitted, as are backyard fire pits and contained campfires that are no more than three feet in height and four feet in length, width, or circumference. In New York State, burning trash or leaves is illegal all year long, and burn restrictions are currently in place in a number of communities.
With effect from Saturday, Sterling Forest State Park will once again be open for hunting and hiking north of Route 17A and east of Long Meadow Road. The fire zone’s trails will be blocked indefinitely.