A Walk in the Park: Six Alarm Fire In Great Kills Park - Lack Of Maintenance Cited As Cause

Thursday, September 9, 2010

Six Alarm Fire In Great Kills Park - Lack Of Maintenance Cited As Cause

"The abundance of phragmites – an invasive, non-native species of weed which grows in dense thickets and gets dangerously dry in fire season – put Islanders' lives and property at risk, said state Sen. Andrew Lanza (R -Staten Island), who blasted the state Department of Environmental Conservation for "lack of action" on phragmite removal."

Firefighters from Engine 254 scramble into the engine as a six-alarm brush fire burns in Great Kills Park in Staten Island. The Richmond Engine company, volunteer firefighters, were briefly trapped, surrounded by fire. There were no reported injuries.

More than 250 New York City firefighters from the five boroughs battled two brush fires, including a six-alarm in Great Kills Park. The park is part of the Federal National Park Service's (NPS) Gateway National Recreation Area. For decades residents around the park have been forced to endure large brush fires in part caused by a lack of maintenance and security of the large natural areas. The park is full of inavasives including phragmites which act like kindling for fires.

In some areas the fire burned within twenty yards of a residential area. Great Kills Park was the scene of a four-alarm brush fire as recently as March 9, 2010. The park is owned by the NPS but is supervised by the State Department of Environmental Conservation. (Photo: Chad Rachman/New York Post)

Staten Island

Brush fires raged through Great Kills Park today, sending black smoke billowing into the air, snarling adjacent traffic and prompting an all-out response by the FDNY, according to a report in the Staten Island Advance.

The three separate pockets of fire broke out around 2:40 p.m. in the federal parkland and went to six alarms before firefighters finally got the upper hand just before 10 p.m. A firefighter suffered a back injury and a civilian was taken to Staten Island University Hospital, Prince's Bay, for smoke inhalation, according to a Fire Department spokesman.

Fueled by dry, windy conditions and an abundance of tinder-like, end-of-summer plant growth, the blaze in Gateway National Recreation Area was among a rash of brush fires that erupted earlier this afternoon on the South Shore.

Firefighters battle a brush fire at Great Kills Park on Staten Island Wednesday.

Firefighters battled the 6-alarm blaze in Great Kills Park. Photo: Staten Island Advance/Michael Oates

Some 250 firefighters from across the Island and Brooklyn rushed to battle the blaze in the park, and 198 firefighters converged on a five-alarm fire which broke out at around 1 p.m. at Woodrow Avenue and Ilyssa Way in Arden Heights. One firefighter was also brought to Staten Island University Hospital, Prince's Bay, after injuring his back in that fire.

"Because of the brush and the very dry weather, it's easy to get [a fire] going," said Chief John Rice of Battalion 48, as firefighters nearby on Mill Road, hosed down a field of flammable, weed-like phragmites separating parkland from a residential development.

The abundance of phragmites -- an invasive, non-native species of weed which grows in dense thickets and gets dangerously dry in fire season -- put Islanders' lives and property at risk, said state Sen. Andrew Lanza (R -Staten Island), who blasted the state Department of Environmental Conservation for "lack of action" on phragmite removal.

NYPD helicopter dropping on brush fire