Wildfires

A Camarillo family found a wedding ring in the field of ashes after the Mountain Fire destroyed their home.

The tri-state area, along with most of the northeast and mid-Atlantic regions, continues to choke under prolonged exposure to the dense smoke filtering in from Quebec, Canada this week.  It is the result of a “perfect storm” of phenomena coming together in the wrong place and at the wrong time. First, there are the fires themselves. They are producing copious…

Latest Forecast From Storm Team 4

Windy conditions have renewed a wildfire that escaped a containment line and prompted a voluntary evacuation for a small number of houses in a community near the New York-New Jersey border. The New York Parks Department says the voluntary evacuation on Saturday impacted about 165 houses in Warwick, New York, as firefighters continued working to tame the Jennings Creek blaze....

More than 150 homes were under a voluntary evacuation order over the weekend after the wildfire breached the containment line. News 4’s Jessica Cunnington reports. 

Firefighters are getting closer to taming a wildfire burning across the New Jersey-New York border, increasing their encirclement of the hard-to-access blaze.

News 4’s Sarah Wallace got exclusive access to a major firefighting effort to control the Jennings Creek Fire. 

Don’t be surprised if you smell smoke from time to time this week as current fires burn and new ones flare up. After meager rainfall Sunday night, we’ve been back in high fire danger mode since Tuesday.  Most of the area is under a fire weather watch, while a red flag warning is in place for Connecticut’s Fairfield County....

Latest Forecast From Storm Team 4

New Jersey’s governor declared a drought warning. Black Hawk helicopters scooped water from a lake to dump on a burning forest in New York state. A park in Manhattan caught fire. And authorities in two states revealed criminal charges Wednesday against people accused of setting some of the wildfires that have plagued the northeast U.S. in recent weeks. The actions came as conditions...

In a shocking twist on Long Island, police said a volunteer firefighter intentionally set a brush fire in Medford on Tuesday, and has since been charged. NBC New York’s Pei-Sze Cheng reports.

Unrelenting wildfires continue to rage across the tri-state, as firefighters slowly get a handle on the Jennings Creek Fire along the New York and New Jersey border. It’s 30 percent contained but thousands of acres are still burning. And because of the lack of rain and dropping reservoirs, New Jersey issued a drought warning — here’s what that means for...

At least two brush fires broke out at an upper Manhattan park, FDNY officials said, one of which was not yet under control as of Wednesday evening.

With wildfires burning after its driest September and October ever, New Jersey will issue a drought warning, a step that could eventually lead to mandatory water restrictions if significant rain doesn’t fall soon. The state Department of Environmental Protection held an online hearing Tuesday on the conditions. But they would not answer questions, including whether any part of the state is...

A volunteer firefighter on Long Island was arrested Tuesday night after allegedly admitting to setting one of the brush fires that swept through the town of Medford earlier in the day, according to a local official. Investigators were battling nearly a half-dozen small brush fires in Medford Tuesday. They put them out by the evening after fighting them for roughly…

The battle against wildfires in the tri-state got even tougher, as crews were battling flames being fueled by gusty winds. New fires have popped up in Suffolk County on Long Island as well. NBC New York’s Pei-Sze Cheng reports

The dry, windy conditions are fueling another day of wildfires across the area, as New York Gov. Kathy Hochul announced a burn ban for the entire state through the end of November. It comes as crews try to get a handle on the Jennings Creek Wildfire burning on the New York-New Jersey border, as it remains only 20% contained. NBC...

With wildfires burning after its driest September and October ever, New Jersey will issue a drought warning, a step that could eventually lead to mandatory water restrictions if significant rain doesn’t fall soon. The state Department of Environmental Protection held an online hearing Tuesday on the conditions. But they would not answer questions, including whether any part of the state is...

After meager rainfall Sunday night, we’re back to extreme fire danger in the tri-state area Tuesday.  A red flag warning is in place for the New York City metro area, the Hudson Valley, Catskills, Connecticut and Long Island. Elsewhere, the fire danger remains very high. Check the latest weather alerts for your neighborhood. Unfortunately, there is no appreciable rain in sight...

New wildfires burned Tuesday across the Northeast, adding to a series of blazes that have come amid very dry weather and killed at least one person, while much larger fires raged in California and other western states. Heavy smoke led to poor air quality and health advisories for parts of New Jersey and New York, including New York City. Check the...