(WNY News Now) – Governor Kathy Hochul addressed New Yorkers on News 12, urging vigilance and preparedness as the state battles its largest wildfire since 2008 in the midst of a historic drought.
Governor Kathy Hochul was a guest on News 12 and spoke on the state’s efforts to mitigate the spread of the ongoing wildfires in the Hudson Valley region. The Governor shared updates and resources for New Yorkers to follow to help combat the effects of the driest October on record and the largest fire in New York State since 2008.
Lisa Salvadorini, News 12 Hudson Valley: Governor Hochul, can you hear me?
Governor Hochul: Yes, I can. Yes, I can.
Lisa Salvadorini, News 12 Hudson Valley: Well, thank you so much for taking some time to talk to us today. Okay, I know that you spoke with the Orange County Executive Steve Neuhaus about 30 minutes ago, so let’s just begin by talking about response and preparedness. Talk to me about some of the state resources that are now being allocated to help fight and contain those wildfires in Orange County today.
Governor Hochul: Okay, we have an “all-hands-on-deck” approach right now. It has been something we’ve been focusing on since the very beginning and I wanted to say we have incredible partners and local governments as well. But, right now, it’s the DEC Forest Rangers that are leading the firefighting efforts. New York State Park Rangers are assisting, and, again, I have to acknowledge the tragic loss of one of our park staffers while he was trying to clear brush to help prevent the fire’s spread.
These are very dangerous jobs, and we should not overlook that — that they deserve a lot of our gratitude. But, we have state police flying helicopters for bucket drops, we have drones assessing the fire’s progress, we are going door-to-door with the county workers as well. We’ve deployed two Black Hawk helicopters from the National Guard to assist with the water drops, and, also, we have our State Fire and State Office of Emergency Management helping coordinate the response.
We literally have everybody involved. We have DOT deploying heavy equipment, bulldozers to assist in the cutting lines. And, I want to thank the local fire departments — about 44 of them with volunteers, and I want to give a special shout out to them. We really thank them for helping us here.
So, we have tapped into every asset we could possibly think of. They’re on the ground, they’re not going anywhere, and, I want to point out that this is the largest fire in our state since 2008. So, we have not seen anything of this scale. Again, it is the driest October on record, and we’ve had a drought watch and we are just looking at — this is the time for people to be very, very careful about what they’re doing so we don’t contribute to the challenges that we’re dealing with right now trying to stop the spread.
Lisa Salvadorini, News 12 Hudson Valley: Yeah, unfortunately we did have a loss of life, but talk to me a little bit more about the importance of roles that those crew members play. Those are the ones that are digging the trenches to try and stop this fire. When we were talking to someone who was on the scene when it happened, they were saying that half of the crew was trying to dig the trench while the other half was trying to save this young man — just 18-years-old, so sad.
Governor Hochul: It is. It’s just absolutely heartbreaking and — people think you put out a fire, you send in people to put out fires — these are people on the ground when there are flames around them or in deep, deep forests, these are areas that are not accessible by roads many times. I’ve flown over fires in the past and I’ll be on the ground tomorrow. I wanted to not interfere with the response, but I want to go thank them and see with my own eyes what else we can be doing. So, I’ll be there with the County Executive tomorrow. These people should never be taken for granted, and now we’re anxious about the possible spread because of high winds on the horizon.
And, humidity being up is good news, but it’s the winds Friday that gave us these fires in the first place that allowed it to spread, and, we have today’s wind gusts about 18 miles per hour, but tomorrow could be as high as 25 miles an hour. So, it’s a weather event that we feel we have the assets on the ground to control, but there are so many variables that are out of our control and that’s why preparedness is everything.
Lisa Salvadorini, News 12 Hudson Valley: So, are there any more plans to deploy additional resources to assist those local fire teams today? Can you talk a little bit more about that?
Governor Hochul: That’s what my conversation with my emergency team was all about earlier. At some point, you get to a situation where there’s people now waiting to be assigned. We have enough people at this moment, but we are all-hands-on-deck and calls are out there if the situation gets any worse, and we’ll bring them in very quickly.
But, as you can imagine, you don’t want people that we don’t have an assignment for to be lingering there in harm’s way, and everyone is working so hard. So, they’re working in 12-hour shifts around-the-clock, new people are being rotated in and out. So, it’s really truly like a military operation. It’s extraordinary, the level of planning that goes into dealing with any kind of fire, but also on the ground when it’s actually unfolding, it’s intense, and I’m just so grateful we have public servants from the county level and the state level that are out there as we are speaking at this moment, trying to make sure we can save the land, but also make sure that we don’t get close to inhabited buildings and protect our communities.
The other challenge we have is the air quality is very challenging for people, is that it’s hard to breathe. On the ground, it is becoming very hard to breathe, we’re monitoring the air quality intensely at this time as well.
Lisa Salvadorini, News 12 Hudson Valley: Let’s talk a little bit about the — once this fire is out, the environmental and long term implications. What assessments do you think will be done to understand the environmental impact of these fires when it comes to the surrounding areas? And the recovery efforts for the local businesses and homeowners that they can expect, what kind of assistance can they expect from the state?
Governor Hochul: It depends upon whether or not this is declared a disaster area. Again, the scale is large in terms of acreage, but not affecting downtowns or populated areas. If there’s a shift in that, certainly there’s other resources that are available to help communities rebuild, just like after a flood. These areas are very accustomed to what happens with the other extreme weather events they’re hit with; which is the flooding that I’ve been on the ground so many times to see with County Executive Neuhaus in Ulster County and with County Executive Metzger and others.
So, we’re very experienced. Sometimes it’s too much water, sometimes it’s too much fire, but we are also just really dealing with the reality that these are extreme weather events caused by climate change. And, you talk about what we do in the long term — we must continue our efforts to do everything in our power as a state and as communities and as individuals to be aware of our impact on the environment and try to mitigate it, because you don’t talk about what could happen when climate change happens in the future. It is unfolding right now.
This is really the first generation that has had the negative impacts of climate change with thousand year floods and dry weather — the driest weather on record for New York City and parts of the Hudson Valley. This is the driest October we’ve ever had and, so, that is unusual. We’re used to far more rain and precipitation in the fall, which would stop a fire like this from spreading. We can’t count on that anymore and we can’t count on the fact we won’t have record rains in the summer and spring like we have in a few months. So the point I’m trying to make is: This is the new normal. We’re always going to have to be prepared in advance to deal with what unfolds in that moment, but also think long term about our climate mitigation strategies.
Lisa Salvadorini, News 12 Hudson Valley: So what message do you have for the people of Orange County and just the state when it comes to trying to prevent these kind of fires in the future? When we were hearing from Steve Neuhaus, he said that a lot of these things started because someone simply flipped a cigarette and it just created chaos. So what message do you have to people of New York?
Governor Hochul: Please be careful, monitor the forecasts and pay attention to alerts from local law enforcement in the short term while there is an active fire.
But, don’t be burning outdoors and be watching your water use. We have a drought watch right now, we’re in a moderate drought. It could get worse. Your own usage of water is important to us. But, just be aware and listen to the local authorities about where there could be danger for you and your family.
We don’t feel that there’s going to be a real threat to populated areas. But again, Mother Nature — wildly unpredictable. If the wind shifts we could be in a different dynamic. So this is the message. Be aware of what’s going on. Pay attention to the alerts from news organizations like yours.
And I appreciate what you’re doing here today by getting this message out there. And we’ll be in this together for the long haul.
Lisa Salvadorini, News 12 Hudson Valley: All right, Governor. Thank you so much. What time do you think you’re going to be in Orange County tomorrow? Do you have an indication of the exact time? Are you thinking morning, noon? When do you think you’re going to be there tomorrow?
Governor Hochul: I would think it’s sometime in early afternoon.
Lisa Salvadorini, News 12 Hudson Valley: In the early afternoon. Okay. And you’re going to be – you’re going to plan on going and meeting with the county executive. Will you stay in touch with them throughout the day today and then reassess tomorrow?
Governor Hochul: I’m going no matter what, even if it’s under control. I want to thank people. Today I was willing to go, but — deciding that it’s a distraction when I show up to these events. So, I did not want it to detract from their work. But by tomorrow, I want to go out there and thank — and, again, certainly the New York State Park Service family and DEC, they’re all in shock over the loss of one of their own from Parks and Recreation, I want to make sure that they know that we’re there for them as well. I look forward to that visit, and we’ll certainly be advising you as to the details.
Lisa Salvadorini, News 12 Hudson Valley: Okay, great. And, we also know that there’s a memorial for that young man today at noon. I don’t know if you’re aware of that, but we’ll be covering that as well. So in addition to our fire coverage of what’s happening right now, we do have a reporter at the high school baseball field. So, I just want to make sure that we’ll be covering that as well.
Governor Hochul: I appreciate that, and certainly members of my team will be representing me at that today.
Lisa Salvadorini, News 12 Hudson Valley: Okay, great. All right Thank you so much. We appreciate your time, Governor.
Governor Hochul: Alright, thank you. Bye bye.
Lisa Salvadorini, News 12 Hudson Valley: Bye bye.