18-year-old park employee killed while battling wildfire in New York

An 18-year-old New York state employee died in a wildfire in Sterling Forest in Orange County on Saturday.

Dariel Vasquez, a New York State Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation Department volunteer, was helping contain the wildfire when he was killed, state police said in a statement. The police are investigating.

“I am deeply saddened by the death of one of our New York State Parks employees while responding to a wildfire in Orange County yesterday,” Gov. Kathy Hochul said in a statement Sunday. “My prayers go out to his family, friends and colleagues during this difficult time.”

Wildfires continue to rage in warm, dry conditions in the Northeast, where 11 million people remain under fire alarm as of Sunday afternoon. Cities under fire alarm include Boston and Hartford.

In New York, 60 wildfires have broken out since Oct. 1, burning more than 2,100 acres, Jeremy Oldroyd, a state forester, said Sunday afternoon.

Multiple fires are burning in Orange County, and County Executive Steve Neuhaus urged residents living near the fires to make evacuation plans.

“At this time, the incident command team has not indicated that evacuations are imminent, but we continue to monitor the situation carefully,” Neuhaus said in an update on Sunday.

An air quality health alert was issued Sunday for the New York City metropolitan area and the lower and upper Hudson Valley regions due to the possibility of air pollution exceeding an air quality index value of 100.

The Sterling Forest fire in Orange County is also affecting Passaic County, New Jersey – where it is being called the Jennings Creek Wildfire, according to the New Jersey Forest Fire Service. The fire has spread to 2,500 acres and was 0% contained as of Sunday evening. The cause is currently being investigated.

Bill Donnelly, chief of the New Jersey Forest Fire Service, said the fire is expected to continue burning until it reaches the control line, a barrier designed to stop the fire from spreading.

“We may not actually be able to do it today, we may not be able to do it tomorrow, but hopefully by the end of the week we can secure our control lines and make sure the fire stays where we want it to be,” Donnelly said Sunday afternoon.

Elsewhere in Passaic County, the 175-acre Cannonball 3 wildfire is 75% contained. The cause is also being investigated.

A man has been arrested and accused of starting a fire in Jackson Township, New Jersey, the Forest Fire Department said in a news release. The man is said to have fired ammunition from a shotgun, starting the fire behind a berm near a shooting club. He was charged with arson and violating firearms regulations.

Since Oct. 1, the New Jersey Forest Fire Service has responded to 537 wildfires in the state that have destroyed 4,500 acres, Donnelly said.

In Massachusetts, a brush fire burned in the Lynn Woods Reservation, a forest park in Essex County. The city of Lynn announced on X that the park would be closed to the public until further notice.

Drone video from the park shows smoke rising from a raging fire.

“Falling trees, air quality and the risk of further fires continue to pose significant risks to the public,” the city said.

On Sunday, dry vegetation, wind gusts of 40 km/h and relative humidity of around 40% increase the risk of new or existing fires spreading quickly. An approaching cold front may bring rain and higher humidity later Sunday evening.

A slow-moving front will move further east Sunday afternoon, bringing much-needed moisture to the eastern third of the country, which includes the Northeast.

Showers will move into the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic later Sunday evening and overnight. Rainfall totals will be relatively light, ranging from half an inch to an inch.

The forecast rain is expected to break Philadelphia's record streak of consecutive dry days. The current duration is 42 days, breaking the previous record of 29 set in 1874.