Int. No. 1185
By Council Members Krishnan, Louis, Banks and Hanif
A Local Law to amend the administrative code of the city of New York, in relation to a plan to mitigate wildfires in parks under the jurisdiction of the department of parks and recreation
Be it enacted by the Council as follows:
Section 1. Chapter 1 of title 18 of the administrative code of the city of New York is amended by adding a new section 18-166 to read as follows:
§ 18-166 Wildfire plan. a. Definitions. As used in this section, the following term has the following meaning:
Wildfire. The term “wildfire” means an unplanned, unwanted fire that is burning in a natural area, such as a forest, grassland, or park.
b. Wildfire mitigation plan. The department, in consultation with the department of environmental protection, fire department, police department, office of emergency management, and any other appropriate agency or office, shall develop a plan to mitigate the proliferation of wildfires occurring at parks under the jurisdiction of the department. No later than October 1, 2025, the department shall submit such plan to the mayor and the speaker of the council. Such plan shall include, but not be limited to, the following:
1. A description of the current practices utilized by the department and other appropriate agencies to mitigate occurrences of wildfires at parks under the jurisdiction of the department;
2. An analysis of parks and other properties under the jurisdiction of the department that are most susceptible to the occurrence of a wildfire, including the weather conditions that contribute to such susceptibility;
2. A description of the actions taken to neutralize wildfires or other fires that occurred in parks under the jurisdiction of the department in the past 10 years, and an analysis of how such actions could be improved upon;
4. A description of efforts that can be taken by the department and other appropriate agencies to limit wildfires and damage caused by such wildfires to parks, including but not limited to:
(a) training department staff in wildfire mitigation;
(b) increasing response times to reported fires;
(c) surveying fire prone areas in parks and other areas of parks that may become fire prone in certain weather conditions in order to adapt such areas to diminish the potential of a wildfire from occurring;
(d) increasing enforcement against prohibited activities that may be fire hazards; and
(e) identifying other activities within parks that may contribute to wildfire occurrences and limiting such activities when necessary; and
5. A description of the outreach efforts that can be made by the department and appropriate agencies to inform the public regarding the risks of wildfires in parks, how to limit such risks, and how a member of the public can notify an appropriate agency when a possible wildfire is observed.
c. No later than February 1, 2026, and annually by February 1 thereafter, the department shall submit a report to the mayor and speaker of the council that provides information on wildfires that occurred in parks under the jurisdiction of the department for the immediately preceding calendar year. Such report shall include, but not be limited to, the following:
1. Information on the number of wildfires that occurred in parks;
2. The location of each such wildfire;
3. The duration of each such wildfire;
4. The efforts used to mitigate such wildfires;
5. The reasons for the occurrences of each such wildfire; and
6. Whether such wildfires resulted in death or injury to any person, and if so, the number of deaths or injuries attributable to each wildfire.
d. The department shall update the wildfire plan required by subdivision b of this section as necessary and submit such update to the mayor and speaker of the council no later than 10 days after each such update.
e. The department shall post the wildfire plan and all reports and updates required pursuant to this section on the department’s website immediately upon the completion of such plan, reports, and updates.
§ 2. This local law takes effect immediately.
KS
LS 18295
1/14/25