BRICK, N.J. (AP) — New Jersey’s governor declared a drought warning Wednesday, and authorities revealed they’ve charged a youth with starting one of many wildfires that has plagued the state in recent weeks.
The actions came as conditions are the driest they’ve been in nearly 120 years as numerous wildfires continue to burn in places that haven’t seen significant rain since August.
The declaration by Gov. Phil Murphy asked people to take voluntary conservation steps, like shorter showers, turning the faucet off while brushing teeth, and waiting until the dishwasher is full to run it.
But it stopped short of mandatory water usage restrictions, which would be included in a drought emergency, the highest alert the government can impose.
New Jersey is not yet at the point where communities are in danger of running out of water for drinking or fighting fires. And the state wants to prevent things from reaching that point.
“Please take this seriously,” Murphy said. “We have a very dry winter ahead of us.”
Late Wednesday, police in the Philadelphia suburb of Evesham Township said they had charged a juvenile with deliberately setting an Oct. 30 fire that burned less than a tenth of a square mile. The youth, whose age was not released, was arrested on Nov. 7 and taken to a juvenile detention center, charged with aggravated arson and causing or risking widespread injury or damage.
That fire was separate from an additional blaze in Evesham that broke out the day he was arrested. That second fire burned over half a square mile over several days, and authorities are investigating whether the two blazes are related.
Dry conditions from coast to coast were contributing to the spread of wildfires.
California made good progress against a major wildfire in Ventura County, northwest of Los Angeles, that broke out a week ago and quickly exploded in size because of dry Santa Ana winds. The Mountain fire was 60% contained on Wednesday.
The 32-square-mile (83-square-kilometer) fire forced thousands of residents to flee and has destroyed more than 215 structures, most of them houses, and damaged at least 210.
Things were more difficult on the East Coast, where efforts to bring a wildfire burning on the New Jersey-New York border basically stalled overnight. It had burned 2,283 acres (3.6 square miles) in New Jersey’s Passaic County and 2,100 acres (3.3 square miles) in New York’s Orange County.
Greg McLaughlin, an administrator with the New Jersey Forest Fire Service, said steep mountainous terrain and high winds, coupled with few road access points, were making it difficult to fight the blaze from the ground. A water-dropping helicopter also was being used, but the usual array of bulldozers and plows was not effective on this particular fire.
That blaze claimed the life of a New York state parks employee who was assisting firefighters over the weekend.
Dry conditions in New Jersey and New York are a growing concern, not only for firefighting efforts but for the continued availability of drinking water.
Two major reservoirs in New Jersey were at 51% and 45% of capacity on Wednesday, enough to keep the taps flowing, but low enough to cause concern for what might happen with additional weeks or months of low rainfall. One river that is a supplemental source of drinking water was at 14% of normal.
September and October were the driest two-month period ever recorded in New Jersey. Since August, the state has received 2 inches (5 cm) of rain when it should have gotten a foot (0.3 meters).
No significant rainfall was in the foreseeable forecast, officials said.
The ground is also bone-dry, McLaughlin added. This makes wildfires even more dangerous in that they can burn downward through dry soil and root systems, and endure for months.
On a ground dryness scale in which 800 is the highest possible score, New Jersey is at 748, meaning that the soil is dry almost 8 inches (20 centimeters) below the surface. That level had never before been reached, McLaughlin said.
A wildfire that broke out July 4 in New Jersey’s Wharton State Forest by someone using illegal fireworks has long been considered contained. But it has been smoldering underground for four months and could reignite above ground, McLaughlin said.
Conditions are also dry in New York, which issued a drought watch last week. Mayor Eric Adams mayor urged residents to take shorter showers, fix dripping faucets and otherwise conserve water.
Just 0.01 inches (0.02 centimeters) of rain fell last month on the city’s Central Park, where October normally brings about 4.4 inches (11.2 centimeters) of precipitation. New York says it was the driest October in over 150 years.
Massachusetts declared a drought Tuesday after more than a month of decreased rainfall.
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Associated Press writers Christopher Weber in Los Angeles and Kathy McCormack in Concord, New Hampshire contributed to this report.
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