Prospect Park Fire Recovery: Next Steps

New York City is experiencing unprecedented drought conditions, on Friday, November 8, Prospect Park experienced a 2-alarm fire in two acres of our beloved woodland Ravine, Brooklyn’s last remaining upland forest. Thanks to the quick response of 106 Fire and EMS Personnel on scene, the fire was quickly contained and extinguished later that night.

“We thank the FDNY, NYPD and its sister agencies who responded quickly to the situation and got the fire under control,” shares Prospect Park Alliance President, Morgan Monaco. “Damage to the park’s Ravine is particularly devastating as it is home to hundreds of species of trees, plants and wildlife that depend upon our woodlands for their health and well-being. We are so thankful to our community for the outpouring of support and care in stewarding our beloved park. Recent weeks have brought to the forefront of our minds just how essential our green oasis is to our community.”

Caring for the woodlands is core to the Alliance mission, and our team of ecologists, forestry technicians and arborists is working with our partners at NYC Parks to assess the damage and start work to stabilize the area and restore it with native plantings. “This devastated area will need major forest restoration efforts including slope stabilization and replanting of all three layers of the forest: overstory trees, midstory shrubs and herbaceous ground cover,” shares Prospect Park Alliance Director of Landscape Management, Leila Mougoui Bakhtiari. “This kind of forest restoration will take several years to undertake, and will need extensive long-term care to make sure the plant material is properly established and grows. The fire was located in a hard-to-access area due to the steep nature of the hill that will make this kind of long-term care challenging, and the Alliance’s restoration work in this area all the more essential.”

Notes of support left by community members in Prospect Park’s ravine.

As the Alliance continues assessing the fire’s damage, we anticipate losing some of the large canopy trees due to the damage, which will create light gaps and opportunities for invasive species to dominate the area. The location of the fire is also a “Forever Wild” area of the park, a designation that means it has rare and important native species of plants and animals, making our ongoing restoration to work in this area all the more essential.

The Ravine was one of the Alliance’s first forest restoration sites when we began our work to sustain the park in the early 1990s, and is essential to the health and vitality of our natural areas. In the months to come, the Alliance will share volunteer opportunities with our community to also lend a hand in helping our team restore this vital area of our forest.

While the city continues to experience severe drought conditions, grilling is currently banned, and smoking and open flames remain illegal. Any fires should be reported immediately to 911.