The smell of smoke wafted through the streets of Emerson, New Jersey, although the flames were miles away. Aneesa Mathew, a sixth-grade student at Patrick M. Villano noticed the odor.
“When I first went outside, it smelled really smoky and like a bonfire which caused my asthma to start to flare up,” Mathews said.
Mathews is talking about a recent wild fire in Pompton Lakes which is about 14 miles away from Emerson. It was one of several local wild fires that ravaged brush and trees due to lack of rainfall.
“I was kind of expecting this though since we had been in a drought,” Mathews said. “I was at home and my dad went to go get the mail and he smelt the smoke and told my family about it.”
According to the website the New Jersey Forest Fire Service, “For the first time in over 20 years, New York City has issued a drought warning as brush fires continue to make headlines throughout the northeastern United States … . increasing drought conditions combined with strong winds and warm, sunny weather have created an ideal environment for fires to ignite and spread.”
Another local student, Nick Arena from Wyckoff, New Jersey, smelled smoke from his suburban home.
“I smelled smoke as I saw the fires spread through the forest from the bridge on 287,” Arena said. He’s referring the same wild fire in Pompton Lakes.
“Yes, I was super surprised to find out there were wildfires in New Jersey. I thought that this was very unusual,” Arena said.
“About 7,000 acres of forest are destroyed by wildfires in New Jersey each year, around 1,500 a year. This has become a threat to homeowners who live near forest environments,” stated the New Jersey Forest Fire Service website.
The website offers tips for residents and homeowners to prevent wild fires and what to do if a wildfire comes too close to a house. For example, keeping a campfire to a manageable size and remembering to always extinguish the campfire are two ways to prevent flames from spreading in a wooded area.
