2024 is on track to be the hottest year in recorded history, exceeding 2023 as the second. As temperatures increase so does the rate of evaporation speeding up the water cycles causing more floods and droughts to occur simultaneously.
This year New York experienced an unprecedentedly dry October, putting the city under a drought watch for the first time in over twenty years. Between Nov. 1 and Nov. 14, over 250 brush fires erupted across the city within a two-week time period, the highest wildfire rate in New York’s history. Three of those fires were in Inwood Hill Park, a block away from my home -- the last natural forest in Manhattan, meaning that it is composed of mostly indigenous growth and not planted by humans.
The 200-acre park is a sacred place for local residents as well as for the descendants of the Lenape Indigenous tribe that inhabited the area for thousands of years before the Europeans arrived. An ancient, magical place, seemingly removed from the city, the park contains evidence of human and geological activity dating back to prehistoric times.
The terrain of Inwood Hill Park, with its dramatic caves (see image below), valleys, and ridges was sculpted 50,000 years ago by the glacial activity of the Wisconsin ice sheet -- a glacier 300 feet thick stretching from Massachusetts to Montana.
It is the home to century-old Red Oak and Tulip Trees, some of the largest in the city, and 150 different bird species, including the Red-tailed Hawk who perched on my fire escape one night.
On November 13th, two fires ignited on opposite ends of the park. Four acres were scorched before firefighters were able to control the blaze, which was no easy feat, given that there are no fire hydrants in the forest. Firefighters had to carry equipment up the 150 foot hill. It took 140 responders to extinguish the hard-to-reach pockets of the park, eventually enlisting rarely used fire boats to pump the water from the surrounding Harlem River to put out the flames. Fortunately, they were successful before many of the trees caught fire. Notwithstanding the hazards caused by smaller falling trees encountered by responders, it remained only a brush fire (that is, a fire involving low-growing plants rather than big trees) rather than building in strength.
The combination of high winds and parched earth create dangerous situations that can cause fires to occur. As dry conditions like these continue, we can expect to see more fires in our city in the future.
As I sit at my desk now, it’s Thanksgiving and I’m grateful for the rain. We escaped the worst this time, but if wild fires become a trend, how long will we be able to fend off the destruction of our forests, parks and homes? If it is true that we have missed the opportunity to turn back the clock of a warming planet, and the attendant consequences of rising temperatures, let us acknowledge our co-dependence with and responsibilities to the other living creatures that enrich our city, and protect their habitat.
Lisa Taliano
Inwood, New York City, November, 2024
