A red flag warning is in effect again Wednesday for the Long Island and New York City regions, the National Weather Service said in a statement this morning.
The warning remains in effect until 6 p.m. tonight, the weather service said.
North winds of 10 to 15 mph with gusts up to 25 mph combined with relative humidity as low as 25 to 30% mean weather conditions are conducive to the rapid spread of wildfire should a fire ignite.
The weather service issues a red flag warning when those conditions exist or are forecasted. Residents are urged to use extreme caution with any potential ignition sources, including smoking materials. The governor has announced a statewide temporary ban on all outdoor burning.
Today’s red flag warning is the seventh issued for the Long Island region since Oct. 25.
Compounding the risk is the long period of unusually dry weather in the region. Since Sept. 1, less than an inch of rain has fallen in Eastern Suffolk, according to data recorded at the National Weather Service in Upton. Normal rainfall during that period is close to 10 inches (9.97 in.) according to the weather service data.
The exceptionally dry period coincides with the arrival of autumn, when dry fallen leaves carpet the ground, creating a bed of what firefighters call “dry fuels” in the woods.
Several brush fires have erupted in Riverhead in the past week, beginning with a small fire in a thicket of bamboo off Harrison Avenue a week ago, believed to have started by a campfire there.
On Saturday morning shortly after midnight a large brush fire ignited on a wooded bluff in Baiting Hollow on the east side of Friar’s Head golf course. Eighteen fire departments responded with 125 people and numerous brush trucks, tankers and engines to battle the wind-driven blaze through the night through mid-morning. The fire burned about 20 acres of woods. One firefighter was taken to the hospital for treatment of smoke inhalation.
MORE COVERAGE: Firefighters from 18 departments battle large brush fire on LI Sound in Baiting Hollow
The fire on the bluff flared up again Saturday night, requiring firefighters from Riverhead and neighboring districts to return to the scene to extinguish flames.
MORE COVERAGE: Firefighters are back at scene of earlier brush fire in Baiting Hollow tonight, knocking down flare-up
Sunday brought more brush fires, this time in the woods south of Pulaski Street, north of the railroad tracks, in the area of a homeless encampment. While Riverhead firefighters fought that fire, there was a second alarm for a brush fire at the Calverton shooting range off Nugent Drive.
MORE COVERAGE: More brush fires burn in Riverhead Sunday
Yesterday afternoon, Riverhead firefighters were called back to the woods south of Pulaski Street to tamp down hot spots at the scene of Sunday’s fire, which began flaring up due to windy conditions.
A massive wildfire on the New Jersey/New York border has burned more than 5,000 acres in New Jersey and in Orange County, New York, and claimed the life of a firefighter with the N.Y. State Parks and Recreation Department’s Wildland Fire Crew, who died when a tree fell on him Nov. 9.
The fire was 10% contained as of yesterday afternoon, Gov. Kathy Hochul said in a press release.
The governor yesterday announced a statewide temporary ban on outdoor burning of any kind. The governor also urged New Yorkers to conserve water. Fifteen New York counties remain under a drought watch, after an October Hochul said was the “driest on record.” The State Department of Environmental Conservation on Nov. 2 issued a drought watch for the following counties: Bronx, Delaware, Dutchess, Greene, Kings, New York, Orange, Putnam, Queens, Richmond, Rockland, Schoharie, Sullivan, Ulster and Westchester.
The entire eastern portion of the state is currently at a high fire danger risk level, according to the State DEC. That includes the Long Island, New York City Metro, Hudson Valley, Catskill, Upper Hudson and St. Lawrence fire danger rating areas. See NYSDEC fire danger map.
Smoke from the wildfire in Orange County and New Jersey led to an air quality health advisory for fine particulate matter in the New York City metro and Hudson Valley regions Sunday.
A red flag warning is issued when a combination of strong winds, low relative humidity and dry fuels will create the conditions for fire to spread rapidly if ignited.
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