Gusty Winds Stoke 5,000-Acre Wildfire at New York-New Jersey Border

Known as the Jennings Creek fire, it started Friday and quickly spread. The rugged terrain has made it more difficult for emergency workers to respond.

Howling winds on Tuesday threatened to hasten the spread of the 5,000-acre Jennings Creek fire that was burning on the border between New York and New Jersey, state officials and weather experts said.

Gusts of up to 35 miles per hour and the drought that has gripped much of the Northeast could cause the blaze to grow rapidly and drive smoke south, affecting air quality in New York City, officials said. It started last Friday in Orange County, New York, and then quickly crossed over state lines into New Jersey’s Passaic County.

Some areas are still too rugged for emergency vehicles to access; the fire was 10 percent contained in New York and 10 percent contained in New Jersey as of Tuesday afternoon, officials said.

So far, there have been no evacuation orders or any damage to structures, according to New York and New Jersey officials, who are still investigating its cause. The fire, which caused the death of an employee for the New York State parks system, is burning mostly in a state park near the Appalachian Trail and along the border.

On Tuesday, Gov. Kathy Hochul of New York announced a statewide burn ban, which prohibits outdoor fires and discourages grill use through Nov. 30. Last week, Mayor Eric Adams of New York City banned grilling in public parks after a fire burned two acres in Prospect Park in Brooklyn. The cause is still under investigation.

On Tuesday morning, the National Weather Service issued a red flag alert for the southern parts of New York and Connecticut, as well as in northeastern New Jersey. The alert, which cautioned that humidity levels were dropping and winds were picking up, warned people to be careful with possible fire-starters like cigarettes and grills.

Under these red flag conditions, the Jennings Creek blaze could spread southeast toward Tuxedo, N.Y., where resources were concentrated on Tuesday, New York fire officials said.

In Warwick, N.Y., about 15 miles west of the fire, the anxiety was palpable. Jesse Dwyer, the town supervisor, said 12 homes had been evacuated voluntarily. At Greenwood Lake Roasters, a local coffee shop, Marissa Sirico was fighting back tears as she served customers. She had just spoken with her boyfriend, a local firefighter who was preparing to fight the blaze this evening. “He is very stressed out,” she said.

Chris Franek, an assistant division fire warden for the New Jersey Forest Fire Service, said “firefighting has been extremely difficult,” referring to the rough and mountainous terrain that gave some of his crews no other choice but to hike their way in.

“They are exhausted, but they are still digging deep and working very hard,” Mr. Franek said.

Gov. Hochul said the Jennings Creek blaze was New York’s largest fire since 2008, when 2,855 acres burned in Rochester. (New York’s largest wildfire on record, according to her office, was the Adirondack fire of 1903, which burned 600,000 acres.)

About 1,400 acres burn during a typical wildfire season in New York, the governor’s office said. This year, that acreage has more than doubled. The current situation has called for helicopters with water drops, drones, bulldozers and hundreds of emergency workers from both states, her office said.

Modest rainfall this weekend dampened possible fuel for the fire, such as fallen leaves. But it was a temporary fix, weather experts said. Dominic Ramunni, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service, said the metropolitan area most likely will not see rain again until the end of the week, or until early next week.

The drought is especially bad in New Jersey, where most of the state has severe conditions or worse and the risk of fire remains high in the south.

There has been a 10-inch deficit in precipitation since mid-August, said David Robinson, the New Jersey state climatologist and a geography professor at Rutgers University.

Mr. Robinson said climate change can produce unpredictable weather patterns, including droughts that come on the heels of heavy rainfall, which is currently the case in the Northeast.

The cumulative lack of rain in the region has both New York and New Jersey officials discussing the possibility of announcing a drought warning instead of a drought watch, which southern New York has been under since Nov. 2 and all of New Jersey, since Oct. 10. A warning is the last step before declaring an emergency, which would restrict water use.