Recreational Aid with no Apparent Training was on the Jennings Creek Wildfire, NY
The public has the right to know the details of Dariel Vasquez death. NYS Parks has no record of his fire credentials. Where is the after action report?
Living in Port Jefferson under a three month drought, I made pitiful attempts to water the trees surrounding my home as I waited for the Long Island Pine Barrens to blaze once more into a wildfire. To my surprise, it happened upstate on October 18, 2024, burning 5,304 acres, split between New York, and New Jersey [1].
The NY agency leading the suppression effort was the Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) and not State Parks. Sterling Forest's public land manager is the Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation (OPRHP), aka State Parks. Specifically, firefighting was led by NYSDEC Forest Rangers and the New Jersey Forest Fire Service - as it crossed state lines, with many other organizations involved.
When I tuned into the November 11 Press Conference, NYSDEC Forest Ranger Bryan Gallagher was explaining fire conditions and fire safety. My heart went out to him as a fellow firefighter, about 12 minutes in, when he said, "I can’t stress that enough, we don’t need any more work right now, we’ve been running for the past 30 days, we currently have about 15 fires right now that we are working…and you know we’re getting tired..."
I think it was the next day that I urgently called my ex-chief from the Port Jefferson Fire Department, knowing he had been or still was active in the Fire Chiefs Council of Suffolk County. I left a message asking why wasn't Suffolk County being called in for mutual aid? I mustn't have been the only one, as the following day, Suffolk County Executive Ed Romaine and the Suffolk County Department of Fire, Rescue and Emergency Services (FRES) deployed members from 10 fire departments to assist at the Jennings Creek Wildfire [2].
The next press conference featured Governor Hochul who spoke about a loss of life. NYSDEC Forest Ranger Bryan Gallagher was asked if Mr. Vasquez had training. After explaining NYSDEC training protocols, he deferred to NY State Parks Commissioner Randy Simons (as Mr. Vasquez was a NY State Parks employee). Mr. Simons said that Dariel Vasquez was not really on the fire, explaining he was clearing brush and making a fire line, and not fighting the fire.
Did he just side step that question? Knowing the fire service, having trained and served as both a structural firefighter and a wildland firefighter, I knew the difference. Mr. Vasquez was dressed in wildland firefighting clothes, clearing brush, creating a fire line. You can't just be a little bit pregnant, as the saying goes. Mr. Vasquez was fighting fire. Was he credentialed to do so?
And so I foiled, meaning I filed a Freedom of Information Law request.This law provides a mechanism for the public to gain access to agency information not available from public sources [4]. A month later, NY State Parks' response was that there was no record of his 130/190 certificate – the National Wildfire Coordinating Group (NWCG) basic wildfire training course. It's a two day course that includes incident management, firefighting techniques, equipment, safety, strategy, tactics, fire behavior, field training, and physical performance testing. You can get training with the NY Wildfire and Incident Management Academy – which runs as if were an emergency incident making it more fun and exciting to attend – during their annual fall training seasons [5,6].
Back in November 2024, NY State Troopers published a press release explaining his death was due to a tree fall [3]. I forwarded my findings to NY State Police thinking it would be of interest to them. I waited and followed up with a FOIL request for their final report. Meanwhile, I emailed a NY State Parks staff person, who never replied, except on a chance encounter six months later, saying that plenty of changes have been made. Regarding the FOIL request, I was denied in full by November 2025.
What About that After Action Review (AAR)? An AAR is a team effort to discover lessons learned so as to improve in this case firefighter safety and response. For example, in the 1995 Long Island Sunrise Fire one main issue was the need for improved communications. Calling for an AAR, especially after a loss of life, maybe difficult and complex when the response is multi jurisdictional – meaning it's hard for so many agencies to coordinate and achieve – but essential.
Without reviews and transparency, the public, agencies, fire districts, firefighters can never fully appreciate what happened. Though we can't bring back Mr. Vasquez, we can work together to improve firefighter safety and response. For example, the wildfire firefighting community should discuss ways in which NY State Parks can increase their numbers of 130/190 certified employees.
References
[1] -https://www.weather.gov/media/aly/FireWX/02_2024_DEC_Fire%20Season%20presentation.pdf - slide 14.
[4] - https://www.ny.gov/programs/open-foil-ny
[5] - https://www.nwcg.gov
[6] - https://pb.state.ny.us/our-work/ny-wildfire-and-incident-mgmt-academy/overview/
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