Dry winds in NY and NJ keep wildfires burning throughout the region

Wildfires were still raging in northern New Jersey and New York on Tuesday, leaving one person dead and thousands of acres burned.

Despite a sprinkling of rain in the area Sunday night, firefighters continued to battle the Jennings Creek Wildfire – a 3,500 acre blaze still raging between Passaic County, New Jersey and Orange County, New York.

In an update Monday night, the New Jersey Forest Fire Service said the fire was about 20% contained, and Gov. Kathy Hochul said it was the largest fire on record in New York since 2008. The cause of the fire was still under investigation.

Wildfires are rarer in North Jersey and the southern part of New York than other regions, but a record dry spell has put all forested areas in danger. A wildfire broke out over the weekend in Prospect Park, and the FDNY said it was still investigating the cause.

“We have not seen anything of this scale,” Hochul said in an interview on News 12 on Monday. “We have tapped into every asset we could possibly think of.”

The fire killed 18-year-old Dariel Vasquez, a recent Ramapo High School graduate who was working alongside firefighters as an employee of the New York State Parks, Recreation, and Historic Preservation Department. Officials say he was hit by a falling tree.

A GoFundMe for Vasquez had raised more than $70,000 Tuesday morning.

“Dariel was a young man full of promise, hope and dedication. Born into a family known for community service, Dariel embraced this legacy wholeheartedly,” the accompanying post read, adding that he had been captain of his high school baseball team and was planning on starting college in January.

“It’s great how the community has come together to help us out,” Vasquez’s cousin Anthony Vasquez told Gothamist by phone on Tuesday afternoon.

He said there has been an outpouring of love for his cousin, but added that Dariel’s parents have so far been too distraught to speak publicly or review the incoming messages for their family.

“I spent the whole day reading, dissecting emails, copy and pasting things for [his] father,” said Anthony Vasquez. “So whenever he may want to see what people were saying about his son … [he can] get into that page.”

Tuesday’s gusty weather meant that a red flag warning was once again in effect for much of the region – including the area in northeastern New Jersey where the fire continued to burn. Air quality in the metro region was listed as good, despite the ongoing fires.

The National Weather Service continued to warn residents not to burn anything outside, and to be sure to properly extinguish cigarettes or anything else that could ignite.

New York City was still under a drought watch on Tuesday, with no rain in the forecast for the rest of the week.

Mayor Eric Adams banned grilling in local parks following the Prospect Park fire on Friday.

This story has been updated with comment from Anthony Vasquez.