Brooklyn parks scorched by brush fires work toward recovery, resiliency

Months after hundreds of brush fires burned through Brooklyn’s green spaces, its parks are still recovering — and girding themselves for a future where those blazes are more frequent.

This week, the Prospect Park Alliance and Marine Park Alliance were among five city park groups to receive “wildfire rapid response” grants from the City Parks Foundation and NYC Green Fund. The grants, totaling $140,000, were “urgently organized and awarded” to help fund lengthy and expensive recovery efforts. 

“The recent and unprecedented wildfires critically damaged our city’s essential park spaces, and this funding will help begin the necessary restoration,” said Heather Lubov, executive director of City Parks Foundation, in a statement. “Although this funding is modest, we hope it will spur others to step up and add to these grants to ensure that all of the affected natural areas are repaired.”

Each of the five parks received a grant of between $19,900 and $35,100. 

New York City’s drought last fall marked the driest period in the city’s history, and left its parks and foliage bone dry and prone to catching fire from even small sparks. 

More than 500 brush fires broke out across the city between October and November 2024, FDNY Chief of Department John Esposito said at a City Council hearing in January. During that same period in 2023, there were just 120. 

Most of those fires were larger and more damaging than usual. In the aftermath, some parks workers said a lack of funding made the issue worse.

“Without sufficient funding to prioritize the care and maintenance of our cherished parks, our ability to prevent such disasters is significantly impaired,” said Leila Mougoui Bakhtiari, Director, Landscape Management at the Prospect Park Alliance, at the January hearing. “Underfunded parks face delayed maintenance, making them more susceptible to hazards such as tree failures, erosion, and as we’ve experienced, devastating fires.”

Near-daily fires broke out in Marine Park last fall

In Marine Park, there were brush fires almost every day from Oct. 1 to Nov. 28, said Scott Middleton, executive director of the Marine Park Alliance. The park typically sees around 20 fires per year, causing “great concern to adjacent homeowners and park visitors alike.”

Of particular concern are the invasive species like mugwort and phragmites, which have become endemic in the park. Phragmites — tall, reedy grasses — can be very dry and prone to catching fire. 

That’s exactly what happened last fall, Middleton said. The phragmites ignited and sparks spread to native plants and coastal forests in the park, causing fires as large as six acres. 

Already, the spring fire season has arrived, Middleton said, and a fairly large fire broke out in the park on March 8. 

The funding from the City Parks Foundation will support recovery efforts including removing invasive plants and planting native shrubs and “herbaceous material.” Planting is set to start in May, Middleton said. 

The Alliance will also continue to work closely with the Gerritsen Beach Volunteer Fire Department, according to the City Parks Foundation, which will advise on how best to avoid fires in the future. 

“Our efforts will not only replace flammable invasive species with less flammable native plants, it will also curb future fires and vandalism by demonstrating positive, community stewardship of natural areas in response to a high-profile crisis for NYC Parks,” Middleton told Brooklyn Paper. 

Recovery begins in the Prospect Park’s Ravine

One of the most jarring fires for Brooklynites was a Nov. 8 blaze in Prospect Park that engulfed two acres of its “forever wild” Ravine. 

The fire was spotted and reported by a park visitor and was extinguished fairly quickly. Still, the damage it caused was significant. 

Mature trees were scorched, and much of the lower-lying foliage — which is critical for the health of the forests’ flora and fauna — was incinerated. Without plant roots to keep the soil on the park’s steep slopes in place, it was at risk of erosion. Experts said it would take years for the burned area to recover. 

With the weather warming up, recovery efforts at Prospect Park have begun — now with additional funding from the grant.

“We are incredibly grateful for the outpouring of support that has enabled Prospect Park Alliance to begin long-term work to restore this cherished area of Brooklyn’s Backyard,” Monaco said in a statement. “Our woodlands are a destination for respite, healing and exploration, and we thank our community for supporting the Alliance’s work to ensure that these natural areas will be sustained for generations to come.”

The Landscape Management team is hard at work reinforcing the burned area with biodegradable mesh that will prevent erosion, the Prospect Park Alliance shared this week, the first step in the restoration process. 

The team is also starting to re-plant various native species, including oak trees and serviceberry, but full recovery will take “many seasons.”