Wildfire in New York City: Gateway’s Fuel Break at Spring Creek, Queens

Wildfire is not what most people expect in New York City. But at Spring Creek, a Gateway National Recreation Area property in Queens near Jamaica Bay, fires are a regular event — and in February 2022 the National Park Service finished a project to protect the dense neighborhood beside it.

Mowing vegetation near 165th Avenue in Queens to create a fuel break. NPS/M. Grismer.

A difficult site

Spring Creek has a long history of fire and public safety problems. It is built on reclaimed land — dredged material, waste fill, ash and sludge dumped between the early 1900s and the 1960s, when New York City ran it as a waste disposal site. Chemical and radiological contaminants have been found there, and in 2017 the Park Service began a response under CERCLA, the Superfund law.

Fires in its vegetation are intense: flames often exceed 100 feet and spread very fast. The area usually sees at least one fire of 30–50 acres every year.

Wildfires since 2010 and the area treated with mastication in 2022. NPS/J. Shedd.

The project

Crews used machinery to mow and mulch vegetation, creating a fuel break and defensible space around a large, densely populated neighborhood — a line that can anchor firefighting if a fire starts.

According to project lead Mike Grismer, the result is a very large fire break that will help protect hundreds of homes and give the New York City Fire Department a solid tactical feature from which to start suppression or defend property. The clearing also improves visibility, supporting the park’s security goals — and, he noted, it showed neighbors that the Park Service was actively managing a sensitive area that matters a great deal to them.

Recent wildfire perimeters and the treatment area’s distance from JFK Airport runways. NPS/J. Shedd.

Sources

Based on "Gateway National Recreation Area completes fuels treatment to protect hundreds of homes," National Park Service; a work of the United States government in the public domain.