REMARKS
Council Member Krishnan recaps recent drought and brush fire incidents in NYC
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Council Member Krishnan provides a detailed account of the recent drought and brush fire incidents that occurred in New York City during fall 2024 and early 2025.
- Describes the severe drought conditions and city-wide drought watch
- Highlights the record-breaking number of brush fires (271) handled by FDNY in a two-week period
- Details specific major brush fire incidents in various NYC parks, including Van Cortlandt Park, Prospect Park, and Inwood Park
- Emphasizes the challenges faced by firefighters, such as lack of water access in some park areas
Shekar Krishnan
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It is still fresh in our memory.
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But as a brief recap, last fall, the city went through almost 30 days without measurable rainfall, which was the 2nd largest dry streak in city weather records dating back to 18/69.
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Then, on November 2, 2024, Mayor Adams issued a city wide drought watch, ordering city agencies to implement water conservation plans.
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This was elevated to a drought warning on November 18th as the dry spell continued just one step below a drought emergency.
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On January 3, 2025, after precipitation levels were 20% above average in the watershed during
Vickie Paladino
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the
Shekar Krishnan
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end of November December 2024, Mayor Adams lifted the city's drought watch as favorable weather conditions contributed to the replenishment of the city's reservoir system.
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During this, FDNY responded to 271 brush fires throughout the city.
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This represents the highest amount of brush fires ever dealt with during a 2 week period in the city's history.
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And we owe a great deal of gratitude to our FDNY service members, to our parks department, all who came together under such dire conditions in an emergency way to make sure these fires were addressed.
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Thank you all very much.
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Now some of the larger, more serious fires included 4 brush fires in Van Cortlandt Park, which took over 5 hours to put out due to the lack of water access on November 4th.
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A 2 acre brush fire located in a heavily wooded area of Prospect Park on November 8th that needed 120 firefighters to contain.
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2 brush fires in Highbridge Park on November 12th.
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And on November 13th, a brush fire at Alley Pond Park in Queens.
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And a brush fire that damaged nearly 4 acres of brush in Inwood Park, needing a 140 firefighters to extinguish it.
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FDNY needed to use water from the Harlem River due to a lack of fire hydrants in that specific area of the park in order to neutralize the threat.
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And as you see, all of this is connected.
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One fire can have so many secondary effects and do far more extensive damage than simply the geographic fire, the geographic area where the fire is located.
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We seem to be entering uncharted territory here, which is why chair Areola and I felt we needed to convene this hearing so so that we can make sure the entire city is treating this threat as the priority that we both see that it is.