A fire in Prospect Park’s Ravine consumed two acres of forest. Photo courtesy of Prospect Park Alliance.

On November 8, after weeks without rain, Prospect Park experienced a two-alarm fire on two acres of its beloved woodland Ravine— Brooklyn’s last remaining upland forest. Thanks to the quick response of over 100 firefighters and EMS workers, the fire was quickly contained and extinguished by 10 pm that night. 

Along the fence where the fire took place, school children have tied small notes, wishing the woodland a speedy recovery. Image courtesy of Prospect Park Alliance.

“We are so thankful to our community for the outpouring of support and care in stewarding our beloved park,” Prospect Park Alliance President Morgan Monaco said in a statement on November 19. “Recent weeks have brought to the forefront of our minds just how essential our green oasis is to our community.”  

The Ravine was one of the Alliance’s first forest restoration sites when they began their work to sustain the park in the early 1990s and is designated a “Forever Wild” area with rare and important native species of plants and animals— an important factor as they begin cleaning up.   
 
Director of Landscape Management Leila Mougoui Bakhatiari shared an initial assessment of the damage and provided insight into what will be needed moving forward:  

“The 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. 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.” 

The aftermath of the fire in Prospect Park’s Ravine. This photo was taken a week later by Mark Roessler.

Until further notice, the park has banned cookouts and continues to be on high alert for the danger of future fires. To learn more, please visit: https://www.prospectpark.org/prospect-park-fire-recovery-next-steps/ 
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Editor’s Note: Prospect Park is not alone in contending with the consequences of drought. Inwood Hill Park in Manhattan also sustained a large fire, and on November 18, only 10 days after the Ravine fire, a small brush fire broke out on the west side of Olmsted and Vaux’s Fort Greene Park in Brooklyn, NY.