18-year-old crew member killed as firefighters battle dangerous wildfires burning on both coasts

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By Hanna Park, Paradise Afshar, Andy Rose and Lauren Mascarenhas, CNN

(CNN) — Dangerous wildfires were burning Monday on the East and West coasts, with firefighters in New York and New Jersey working to contain a deadly blaze spurred by an ongoing, historic drought – while strong winds in Southern California could fan a destructive fire in Ventura County.

The National Weather Service issued red flag warnings on Tuesday for southeastern New York, areas along the New Jersey/New York border where the Jennings Creek Fire is burning, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut. The warnings indicate an increased risk of wildfires due to strong winds and dry air, prompting caution among residents.

The Jennings Creek Fire has scorched approximately 3,500 acres across parts of New York and New Jersey and is 20% contained, the New Jersey Forest Fire Service said on X Monday evening. While rain on Sunday helped slow the fire’s progress, dry conditions and high winds are expected to continue throughout the week, Assistant Division Firewarden Christopher Franek with the service said during a news conference Monday.

While no civilian injuries have been reported, an 18-year-old Wildland Fire Crew member was killed while responding to the blaze over the weekend, officials said Sunday. Dariel Vasquez died Saturday afternoon when a tree fell over in the fire area.

Vasquez recently graduated from Ramapo High School, where he was a member of the school’s varsity baseball team, the East Ramapo Titans.

Anthony Vasquez, 50, described his late second cousin as “a stellar young man” and “a family person.” And his death has “nearly taken us apart,” Vasquez said.

“We’re very close, our family. He grew into a family of community service where we’re about helping each other, helping the community,” Vasquez told CNN.

Dariel Vasquez was a leader among his peers, a teen who loved to play baseball and “worked hard at his craft,” he said. The 18-year-old wanted to be an electrician, according to his cousin, and had plans to study electrical work in college this coming January.

On the other side of the country, forceful winds are expected to return to Southern California this week. It raises fears the Mountain Fire, which has damaged and destroyed dozens of homes in Ventura County, could spread after calmer weekend weather allowed firefighters to get its containment up to 36%.

Special weather statements were also issued for eastern Maryland, Delaware and New Jersey, where humidity levels are slightly higher.

Wind advisories are in place through Tuesday for parts of Ventura and Santa Barbara counties, where gusts of 50 mph to 60 mph are possible, even as a cold front could bring a slight chance of rain.

The Mountain Fire has prompted thousands of evacuation orders, with some families already having returned to find their homes damaged or burned to the ground.

Flames had burned around 20,600 acres as of Sunday night, according to Cal Fire. Since the fire sparked Wednesday, 192 structures have been destroyed and another 82 damaged. Six injuries have been reported, including five civilians and one firefighter, officials said. The cause of the fire remains under investigation, but officials are looking into whether power lines may have contributed.

While California is used to raging wildfires, New York has not had a fire season like this year since 2002, according to Jeremy Oldroyd, a forest ranger with the state’s Environmental Conservation Department. Nearly 600 wildfires have burned nearly 7,000 acres in New Jersey and New York since October 1, according to officials.

Most of the fires were in New Jersey, where the state’s Forest Fire Service has responded to 537 wildfires. That’s nearly 500 more than the same period last year – and the flames have claimed about 4,500 acres, Donnelly said.

“New Jersey hasn’t seen anything this dry since, you know, we began keeping records, which is one of the obstacles we’re facing,” Donnelly said. “We have fires in New Jersey that have been burning since July 5, if that’s any indication of how dry it is and what we’re dealing with.”

After reports of the wildfire and a separate two-alarm forest fire in Brooklyn’s Prospect Park on Friday night, New York City Mayor Eric Adams banned grilling in the city’s parks. The city has seen 120 brush fires in the last 10 days, according to a release from the mayor’s office. Adams warned residents to take fire precautions and steps to conserve water during the drought.

Homes lost to the blaze

In California, as officials assess the damage inflicted by the Mountain Fire, Ventura County Fire Chief Dustin Gardner said he’s “grateful for the number of lives that were saved and the fact that we have zero reported fatalities.”

“I know we suffered great damage, but thousands of homes were saved and hundreds of lives were rescued. I know we made mistakes, but we will learn from those mistakes,” Gardner said during a community meeting Sunday night.

Gardner pointed out the number of residents in the fire-affected area – about 30,000, including 7,000 who are nonnative English speakers – made evacuating the area challenging.

“We were fortunate that the fire started at 9 o’clock in the morning, with daylight,” said Jim Fryhoff, the sheriff of Ventura County. “Imagine this at 9 o’clock at night, where it’s already dark. Then you lose power in an area that’s already dark, then you have smoke on top of that. This had the opportunity to be so exponentially worse.”

Agricultural officials assessing the impact of the wildfires on farmland planted with avocados, citrus and berries estimate the damage at over $6 million. County Agricultural Commissioner Korinne Bell said Monday that officials have completed only a quarter of their survey on the damage and expect total losses to rise.

As the situation evolves, residents are urged to stay informed and prepared for changing conditions.

CNN’s Robert Shackelford, Eric Levenson, Taylor Romine and Kia Fatahi contributed to this report.

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