By Steven Cohen, Ph.D., Director of the M.S. in Sustainability Management program, School of Professional Studies
Over the past two years, New York City has experienced air pollution from Canadian forest fires, and over the last two months, we’ve experienced similar pollution from fires in New Jersey, Inwood, and Brooklyn. We live on a warming planet, and while the generation-long transition to renewable energy is underway, we will continue to use fossil fuels, and greenhouse gas pollution will continue to warm the planet. The drought we experienced this fall in New York created the conditions for urban forest fires in our parks. Fortunately, New York City’s Fire Department has the capacity to fight these fires, as detailed in a report on the fire in Inwood Hill Park by Jonathan Custodio and Max Rivera last month in The City. According to Custodio and Rivera:
“Firefighters were feeding water from the adjacent Spuyten Duyvil Creek to quench the flames said… [an FDNY] lieutenant, who wasn’t authorized to speak to the press. He added that the department could use more responders to help stretch hose-lines and more equipment like brush-fire trucks and portable tanks during the historic drought. Dispatch transmissions from firefighters revealed a complicated and arduous operation to put out hard-to-reach pockets of fire throughout the park, with the response initially divided into two “boxes,” allocating 80 firefighters and EMS personnel from 15 units to two separate command structures in an attempt to divide and conquer. Firefighters deployed drones from the department’s Command Tactical Unit and, nearly an hour into the operation, chiefs on the scene summoned specialized brush fire units and two fire boats to aid in the response… While FDNY fights hundreds of brush fires a year — not to be confused with wildland or wild fires —the department’s specialized brush fire unit, which consists of eight 24-hour companies strategically located across the city, responded to just 12 brush fires last year according to unofficial data tracked by fdnewyork.com, an FDNY fan site. Those units, said FDNY spokesperson Clare Bourke, have vehicles equipped with a booster tank, medical equipment, portable de-watering pump and chain saw that “are especially suitable for operations on fires remote from roadway or sources of water supply.”
There were twice as many brushfires in New York City this fall as last year, but while the FDNY will need additional resources to respond to the drought-induced fires exacerbated by global warming, the city has the basic expertise and capacity to deal with urban forest fires. The situation north of the city is far worse. In late November, Nathan Porceng described the problem of upstate firefighting capacity in New York Focus, the website of a nonprofit newsroom that reports on “power in the Empire State”. In a piece entitled “New York Isn’t Ready to Fight More Forest Fires,” Porceng observed that:
“Wildfires torched over 6,000 acres in and around New York in the last few weeks…This October was the driest in well over a century, creating the conditions for November’s wildfires to spark and rapidly spread. But as the risk of fires in New York has grown over the years, one thing hasn’t changed: the number of park rangers and volunteer firefighters responsible for preventing them and putting them out. Former and current leaders of the state’s rangers union, part of the Police Benevolent Association of New York State, have expressed fears that blazes could get even bigger and have lobbied state leaders to prioritize wildfire management and better support the rangers. “We have 6 million acres of public land in New York state that 100 rangers are protecting,” Robert Praczkajlo, a Department of Environmental Conservation ranger and union leader, told New York Focus.”
A warming planet exacerbates a wide variety of forms of extreme weather events. New York has seen flooding from hurricanes, and now forest fires from droughts. We do not know when these events will occur, and it is also difficult to predict their impact. But we need to develop scenarios to model different events and a variety of potential impacts and think through the steps needed to prevent destruction, respond to destruction, and reconstruct after destruction. The state government needs to allocate much more funding to this mission, and Governor Hochul should be providing the leadership needed to prevent disaster.
Fire and flood are the most common causes of destruction from extreme weather events. Both require staffing, training, and equipment for effective first response. In the case of Hurricane Sandy, we saw simultaneous flooding and house fires. Fires took place in homes that were damaged by water and wind and surrounded by flooded streets. Amphibious vehicles with the ability to pump water from floodwater are necessary for firefighting in flooded areas. Marine equipment can also be used if flood waters are deep enough or fires are close to waterways. Training in responding during floods and forest fires is also critical. While New York City’s fire department is professional and reasonably well-equipped, the same cannot be said for upstate volunteer fire crews.
It may be that the state should provide funding to the FDNY to set up an academy to train volunteer firefighters. If not, additional specialized training courses need to be developed and implemented to assist volunteer first responders. We will be seeing novel conditions in the coming years as a warming planet creates weather conditions new to New York state. In addition, funding for equipment to deal with fires and floods must be provided to local first responders throughout New York state. It is better to anticipate and be prepared for these events than to throw together a response at the last minute.
Effective response requires strategy and resources, but so too does prevention. Resilient infrastructure is an obvious need. This includes more permeable surfaces to prevent flooding, rebuilt beaches, jetties, and dunes, and a built environment designed to assume that floods will occur and minimize the damage they cause. But another key element of prevention is routine operation and maintenance. Storm drains must be cleaned periodically, so rainwater can drain through the sewers. Park brush and forests must be pruned with dry branches and other flammable materials removed. The New York City budget continues to starve the Parks Department of resources. If the part of the parks used by people is left to deteriorate, what are the odds that anyone is paying attention to the parts of parks that people don’t usually visit—like some of the woodlands and marshes? In Riverside Park, north of 110th Street, the highly populated upper pathway is strewn with sinkholes and craters surrounded by temporary fencing to keep people from falling in. This is highly visible neglect. Meanwhile, fallen trees remain in wooded areas, ignored and neglected by a city government that has failed to understand the threat posed by neglect.
Climate change has upended assumptions of every region’s weather throughout the world. Fish, birds, and virtually all life forms are changing their locations in response to our warming planet. Farmers are modifying their crops and planting seasons. We live in a world where many of us directly experience unprecedented extreme weather events. We do not have the luxury of waiting until disaster strikes but must reorient our first response to anticipate and plan for a changing world.
The last decade has brought the COVID pandemic, massive forest fires, tornadoes, hurricanes, floods, mudslides, and almost daily reports of death and destruction. We live in a new and more dangerous world, and we need to devote resources and human ingenuity to reduce and respond to this riskier world. I am confident we can respond to these challenges, but only if we pay attention and work together as a community.
Views and opinions expressed here are those of the authors, and do not necessarily reflect the official position of Columbia School of Professional Studies or Columbia University.
About the Program
The Columbia University M.S. in Sustainability Management program offered by the School of Professional Studies in partnership with the Climate School provides students cutting-edge policy and management tools they can use to help public and private organizations and governments address environmental impacts and risks, pollution control, and remediation to achieve sustainability. The program is customized for working professionals and is offered as both a full- and part-time course of study.
