Wildfire Continues to Spread Along New York-New Jersey Border

A significant wildfire has been ravaging a large stretch of hilly forest along the New York-New Jersey border, expanding its reach as of Monday, despite the first meaningful rainfall in nearly six weeks, according to fire officials. The region is bracing for bone-dry weather conditions coupled with gusty winds reaching up to 40 miles per hour on Tuesday, which heightens the risk of further fire spread.

As of Monday afternoon, the fire has engulfed approximately 5,000 acres across both New York and New Jersey, as reported by Governor Kathy Hochul of New York. This figure marks an increase from the 3,000 acres reported on Sunday. The governor also noted, however, that the estimate encompasses areas that have already ceased burning.

By Monday night, the fire had scorched around 3,500 acres in New Jersey alone, with only 20 percent of the state’s affected area contained, as per the New Jersey Forest Fire Service. The extent of containment on the New York side of the fire remains unclear.

The recent rainfall, which totaled just a quarter of an inch across the affected region, has only provided temporary relief by slowing the fire’s growth, stated Christopher Franek, an assistant division fire warden for the Forest Fire Service. He remarked, “We’re throwing everything we’ve got at it. A lot of manual labor is choking on smoke and dust.”

To put the scale of the blaze into perspective, 5,000 acres is nearly equivalent to eight square miles, which is slightly more than one-third the size of Manhattan. Hundreds of firefighters from numerous fire departments in both states are actively engaged in battling this fierce blaze, which is situated in a rugged area of Passaic County in New Jersey and Orange County in New York, close to the Appalachian Trail.