Brushfire scorches 15 acres of upper Manhattan park

A brushfire broke retired Tuesday successful an precocious Manhattan park, scorching astir 15 acres and taking much than 100 firefighters to bring the blaze nether control.

The occurrence erupted astir 2:23 p.m. successful Highbridge Park adjacent 155th St. and Harlem River Drive, according to FDNY.

The 3 alarm blaze spanned 10-15 acres — the equivalent of 10-15 shot fields —  of highly rocky and uneven terrain, making it hard for firefighters to harness their equipment, FDNY Deputy Chief Joseph Duggan said astatine a property conference.

The brushfire was connected a “very hilly conception of the parkland with not a batch of hydrant oregon h2o sources.,” Duggan said.”So it was a labour intensive incidental to get our folks and our instrumentality successful place. We had astir 138 firefighters and medics connected scene, and it goes to a 3rd alarm.”

Firefighters were capable to get the occurrence nether power by Tuesday night.

On Sunday, Fire Commissioner Robert Tucker announced the instauration of a new taskforce to absorption solely connected combating brushfires, which are progressively communal arsenic New York faces a historical drought.

“By creating this task force, we are taking existent enactment to forestall brushwood fires from occurring, putting protocols successful spot to support our members harmless portion they are successful the field, and moving to place the causes of these fires aft they hap to support New Yorkers harmless successful the future,” Tucker said, calling connected residents to beryllium mindful of sparking brushwood fires amid the drought.

A massive blaze destroyed 4 acres of Manhattan’s Inwood Hill Park connected Wednesday.

Nearly each wildfires are sparked by humans, according to the state’s Department of Environmental Conservation. Pitching lit cigarettes, burning debris and different neglectful actions tin easy spark a monolithic blaze fueled by adust leaves and precocious winds.