One person is dead as firefighters continue to battle a wildfire near the Orange County village of Greenwood Lake.
New York State Police say 18-year-old Dariel Vasquez — a park ranger with the state Office of Parks, Recreation, and Historic Preservation — died Saturday while responding to the fire in the Sterling Forest.
In Ulster County, firefighters continued working throughout the day yesterday to establish a control line around the perimeter of the Whitehouse Fire in the Town of Denning and achieved 90% containment by nightfall yesterday. The affected area, including the established control line, is approximately 600 acres.
Ulster County Executive Jen Metzger said, “With help from last night’s rain, we expect significant progress toward 100% containment today. We have 139 personnel from 18 fire departments deployed today to continue this work.”
Metzger added, “We want to again extend our gratitude to NYS DEC Forest Rangers and the many local volunteer firefighters from Ulster, Sullivan, Delaware and Greene counties who have been working on the ground to suppress this fire, as well as the NYC Department of Environmental Protection and NYS Police Aviation for the bucket drops on Saturday and Sunday, and all of the agencies involved in this coordinated effort. We also want to thank the many people and local businesses that donated food for our firefighters.”
Image Credit: Ulster County Sheriff’s Office Drone Team