Int. No. 1185-A

By Council Members Krishnan, Louis, Banks, Hanif, Narcisse, Gutiérrez, Dinowitz, Rivera, Riley, Brooks-Powers and Mealy

A Local Law to amend the administrative code of the city of New York, in relation to a wildfire mitigation strategic planning report 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 mitigation strategic planning report. a. Definitions. As used in this section, the following terms have the following meanings:

Park. The term “park” means a park under the jurisdiction of the department.

Wildfire. The term “wildfire” means an unplanned fire in a natural area.

b. The department, in consultation with the department of environmental protection, fire department, police department, and office of emergency management, shall develop a wildfire mitigation strategic planning report on mitigating the proliferation of wildfires occurring in parks. No later than March 1, 2026, the department shall submit such wildfire mitigation strategic planning report to the mayor and the speaker of the council. Such wildfire mitigation strategic planning report shall include, but need not be limited to:

1. A description of practices utilized by the department or other agencies to reduce the occurrence of wildfires in parks;

2. A list of any park in which 2 or more wildfires have occurred during the prior 10 years;

3. A description of any actions by the department to mitigate wildfires that have occurred in parks during the prior 10 years;

4. A description of any measures the department may implement to mitigate wildfires in parks, including but not limited to:

(a) Training staff of the department on strategies for wildfire mitigation;

(b) Surveying areas in parks that may be susceptible to wildfires, and implementing measures to decrease the likelihood of a wildfire occurring in any such area;

(c) Increasing enforcement against activities that are prohibited in parks and that may cause wildfires; and

(d) Identifying activities within parks that are not prohibited and that may contribute to the occurrence of wildfires, and implementing measures to decrease the likelihood that such activities may result in the occurrence of a wildfire; and

5. A description of any outreach the department may conduct to inform the public about the risk of wildfires in parks, how to reduce such risk, and actions to take when observing a potential wildfire in a park.

c. No later than March 1, 2026, and no later than March 1 of each year thereafter, the department shall submit an annual report to the mayor and speaker of the council on any wildfire that occurred in a park during the preceding calendar year. Such report shall include, but not be limited to, for each such wildfire:

1. The location of such wildfire;

2. The duration of such wildfire;

3. Any efforts used to mitigate such wildfire;

4. The cause of such wildfire, provided the department, the fire department, or other relevant agency has identified a cause of such wildfire; and

5. A description of any damage caused by such wildfire.

d. The department shall update the information in the wildfire mitigation strategic planning report, required by paragraph 1 of subdivision b of this section, as necessary following a change to such information, and shall submit such update to the mayor and speaker of the council no later than 10 days after implementation of such update.

e. The department shall post the wildfire mitigation strategic planning report, including any updates to such report, and each annual report required pursuant to this section, on the website of the department.

§ 2. This local law takes effect immediately.

KS

LS 18295

4/16/25 6:34 PM