FDNY battles brush fire at Inwood Hill Park in Upper Manhattan
NEW YORK -- Nearly 150 firefighters and EMS personnel were deployed to battle a brush fire in Upper Manhattan on Wednesday.
The FDNY said reports of smoke and flames in a large area inside Inwood Hill Park, near Seaman Avenue and West 207th Street, came in just after 2:30 p.m.
The fire grew to three alarms, and it took four hours for 140 firefighters and EMS personnel to get it under control, fire officials said.
Fire officials said crews faced many challenges due to the terrain, elevation, collapsing trees and water issues. Crews had to use water from the Harlem River to spray the side of a hill, and they stretched hose lines over 150 feet up a hill.
According to the fire commissioner, crews will remain on the scene all night and into Thursday morning as they continue to deal with hot spots.
No injuries have been reported. The cause is still under investigation.
The blaze follows last week's brush fire in Brooklyn's Prospect Park, which consumed two acres.
Just Wednesday morning, FDNY Commissioner Robert Tucker said the department had responded to 229 brush fires since Oct. 29, the highest amount in a two-week period in the city's history.
New York City under drought watch and Red Flag Warning
Along with other parts of the state, the city is under a drought watch due to the weeks-long dry stretch across the region. Less than 3 inches of rain has fallen in Central Park since September, and October was the driest month ever recorded in the city.
A Red Flag Warning was also re-issued for the area earlier this week, meaning the danger for fire is very high because of a combination of high winds and parched earth.