Springtime in Queens means brush fires Boroughs beach grasses add to its beauty, fire risk By Tobias Salinger / New York Daily News Queens is burning now. Brushfires broke out in two spots in less than a week in the borough’s wide-open, suburban areas, marking the return of a common but underappreciated threat. Fire experts warned residents from Howard Beach to College Point to take note of the high risk in Queens, where springtime winds can turn picturesque beach grasses into fast-igniting tinder. New York City counted 887 wildfires between 1996 and 2013, or about 50 per year, according to the FDNY, and Queens was second only to Staten Island. More than half of those blazes flare up in the spring, posing difficulties for the smoke-eaters whose job it is to put them out. “The tall grass is very high, and even a small amount of wind can burn it through the area,” said Jim Long of FDNY. More than 130 firefighters combatted a blaze Saturday at 83rd St. and 163rd Ave. in Howard Beach that raged for nearly two hours, the FDNY said. The department still hasn’t determined the cause of the 10-foot plumes in the protected wetlands. One Howard Beach house reported minor damages. Flames ignited in a College Point field at 23rd Ave. and Ulmer St. on Tuesday, and it took more than 30 minutes to get them under control. The smoke was visible for miles, but FDNY officials couldn’t say how either fire ignited, or put a value on the damages. Nobody was injured. “It’s very difficult to pinpoint a cause and find a fault for it because of the vastness of the area,” said Long. Long and Lucian Deaton of the National Fire Protection Association noted that cigarette butts, campfires and motorized vehicles are fire hazards around tall grasses that look anything but foreboding. “That’s the problem,” said Deaton. “It’s beautiful 99% of the time. Then suddenly, it’s a risk.” Read more: nydailynews/new-york/queens/queens-spring-brings-brush-fires-article-1.1727334#ixzz2wWG9Us3y
Posted on: Thu, 20 Mar 2014 16:04:00 +0000