Smoke spread through the area between 7 and 8 a.m. Sunday and the smell of fire was so strong that some residents and business owners checked their buildings for signs of fire.

The state issued a smoke advisory Sunday for much of the eastern half of the state, including the Capital Region. Locally, the air quality index varied between 101 and 115 fine particles per million on Sunday. The advisory was in effect until midnight. Much of the smoke in Columbia and Greene counties cleared Sunday afternoon as rain began to fall in the area.

Plumes of smoke from wildfires drifted north and east Sunday morning, leading to poor air quality for people with sensitive respiratory illnesses, young children and the elderly, authorities said.

Some of the smoke was coming from a roughly 2,500-acre fire along the New York-New Jersey border in Sterling Forest State Park that was uncontained Monday and led to the death of an 18-year-old park employee. This site is approximately 50 miles from New York.

About 60 miles farther north, another heavy-smoke wildfire, dubbed the Whitehouse Fire in the town of Denning, had engulfed 600 acres of Catskill Park’s Sundown Wild Forest on Sunday, straddling the county line. of Ulster and Sullivan. Nearly 200 firefighters from 20 agencies responded to the scene.

Ulster County Executive Jen Metzger announced Monday morning on Facebook that the Whitehouse Fire was 90% contained as of Sunday evening.

“The affected area, including the established Line of Control, is approximately 600 acres,” Metzger said. “With the help of last night’s rain, we expect significant progress towards 100% containment today (Monday). Today we have 139 members from 18 fire departments deployed to continue this work.

Additional support for fighting the Whitehouse Fire was provided by three county governments, including Greene County, several state agencies, and New York City, which owns large tracts of land designated for supply in water.

“We would like to once again express our gratitude to the NYS DEC rangers and the many local volunteer firefighters from Ulster, Sullivan, Delaware and Greene counties who worked on the ground to extinguish this fire, as well as to the Department of “New York Environmental Protection and NYS Police Aviation for the bucket drops Saturday and Sunday, and all agencies involved in this coordinated effort,” Metzger added. “We would also like to thank the many local people and businesses who have donated food to our firefighters. »

Columbia County Emergency Management Director David Harrison Jr. said Sunday he hoped rain forecast for Sunday night would potentially weaken the smoke. By Monday, the smoke was gone.

Harrison didn’t expect the state to see the same volume of surface smoke that blanketed the region for days in early 2023 following Canada’s boreal wildfires. This event affected tens of millions of people on the East Coast.

“(The current fires) are not as big as the fires in Canada, so hopefully if we get some rain it will improve the situation there and keep us at least at a moderate or lower level,” he said. Harrison said.

With lots of dry leaves on the ground and little precipitation in the Hudson Valley, the region is ripe for wildfires, according to Harrison.

“If you go by some of these yards, the wind is blowing the leaves everywhere and that’s because there’s just moisture to pack them down and keep them on the ground,” Harrison said.

The emergency management director noted the county came close Friday after a downed power line sparked a brush fire in Austerlitz. It was only 2 acres in size at the time it was removed by first responders.

“It could be anything,” he said. “I hope no one starts a fire now, because I would say the whole county is in danger.”

Columbia County Board of Supervisors Chairman Matthew Murell issued a 30-day burn ban on Nov. 5 in an effort to prevent wildfires from materializing out of control. This came about a week after New Lebanon put its own burning ban into effect in response to four bushfires in the rural town.

Across the river, the towns of Catskill Park, Lexington and Hunter, also have burn bans in effect. On the other hand, Greene County Legislature Chairman Patrick Linger has no plans at this time to restrict burning countywide, given differences in land distribution. rainfall across the county since August.

At this point, Linger said, individuals should know not to light fires in windy weather.

“It should be common sense,” Linger said. “I think if they follow the DEC regulations that people monitor their fires, it can be done safely under the right conditions to get to the point where I have to issue an emergency declaration.”

Linger does not rule out the possibility of issuing a countywide order in the future if conditions deteriorate.