Orange County fire 30% contained; AMTRAK service affected by Bronx brush fire

AMTRAK train service between Penn Station and New Haven along the New Haven line that runs through Westchester and along the Connecticut coast remained curtailed this morning because of a brush fire that was burning in the Bronx yesterday. Dry and windy conditions continued to contribute to the danger of wildfires throughout the region.

Gov. Kathy Hochul and Orange County Executive Steven Neuhaus led the team of state and local officials working with frontline responders at Greenwood Lake on Tuesday afternoon to review progress and planning in battling the Jennings Creek/Sterling State Park wildfire that has spread to encompass 5,000 acres. The fire, which jumped the border into New York from New Jersey, was estimated to be 30% contained as of Wednesday morning.

A second 42-acre fire was located near West Mombasha Road and the Appalachian Trail and had been contained as of Tuesday afternoon.

Hochul said that another fire in the Town of Denning in Ulster County was 95% contained within 630 acres. Hochul also announced that a statewide burn ban is in effect until Nov. 30th due to an increased fire risk as the state continues to experience drought conditions.

“Right now New York state is facing the largest wildfire since 2008,” Hochul said. “Our greatest concern is the Jennings Creek fire here in Orange County. Some of the residents have voluntarily evacuated but I want to emphasize that at this moment no structures are currently under threat.”

Hochul pointed out that firefighters from as many as 47 different communities around the state have come into Orange County to help. She said that New York State Police helicopters have been used for water drops and State Police drones are being used to track the fire. Two National Guard UH-60M Black Hawk helicopters were being put into service with water buckets that have twice the capacity of the buckets on the State Police choppers.

Orange County Executive Steven Neuhaus credited firefighters with saving a row of homes along Cliff Road over the weekend.

“We are making headway with people on foot being supported by UAV (unmanned aerial vehicles) operations,” Neuhaus said. “Those aviation assets are critical to our success here. We can’t get to some of these places. We can’t get bulldozers, excavators and other heavy equipment to these areas so we’re depending on our men and women on foot as well as our support from those air operations.”

Jackie Bray, commissioner the New York State Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services, said, “This has been a historically dry fall. We had the driest October in New York City and parts of the Hudson Valley than we’ve ever had in New York. We did receive some rain over the last 48 hours, less than half an inch. It just wasn’t enough to extinguish the flames and take us out of the drought that we’re in. Completely avoid outdoor burning. As the drought continues, conserve water.”

According to Hochul’s office, from 2007 to 2023, New York state had an average of 117 wildfires per year, with an average of 1,400 acres burned per year. In 2008, the Overlooks Fire in the Town of Rochester in Ulster County burned a total of 2,855 acres. The largest brush fire to occur in New York state was the Adirondack Fire of 1903, which lasted for six weeks and burned a total area of 600,000 acres.