BRICK, NJ (AP) — New Jersey’s governor declared a drought warning Wednesday and officials revealed they have blamed a youth for starting one of several wildfires that have ravaged the state in recent years. recent weeks.

These measures were taken amid the driest conditions in nearly 120 years, as many wildfires continue to burn in places that have not seen significant rain since August.

Gov. Phil Murphy’s statement asked people to take voluntary conservation measures, such as taking shorter showers, turning off the faucet while brushing their teeth and waiting until the dishwasher is full to run it.

But it did not impose mandatory restrictions on water use, which would be included in a drought emergency, the highest alert the government can impose.

New Jersey is not yet at the point where communities are at risk of running out of water for drinking or fighting fires. And the state wants to prevent things from getting to that point.

“Please take this seriously,” Murphy said. “We have a very dry winter ahead of us. »

On Wednesday evening, police in the Philadelphia suburb of Evesham Township said they charged a juvenile with deliberately starting an Oct. 30 fire that burned less than a tenth of a square mile. The youth, whose age has not been released, was arrested on November 7 and taken to a juvenile detention center, charged with aggravated arson and causing or likely to cause injury or harm extended.

This fire was separate from another fire in Evesham which broke out on the day of his arrest. This second fire burned more than half a square mile for several days, and authorities are investigating whether the two fires are related.

Dry conditions from coast to coast have contributed to the spread of wildfires.

California has made good progress in battling a major wildfire in Ventura County, northwest of Los Angeles, that broke out a week ago and quickly exploded due to dry Santa Ana winds. The Mountain Fire was 60% contained Wednesday.

The 83 square kilometer fire forced thousands of residents to flee and destroyed more than 215 structures, mostly homes, and damaged at least 210.

Things were tougher on the East Coast, where efforts to spark a wildfire on the New Jersey-New York border were virtually blocked overnight. It had burned 2,283 acres (3.6 square miles) in Passaic County, New Jersey, and 2,100 acres (3.3 square miles) in Orange County, New York.

Greg McLaughlin, administrator of the New Jersey Forest Fire Department, said the steep mountainous terrain and high winds, coupled with few road access points, made it difficult to fight the fire from the ground. A water-wide helicopter was also used, but the usual array of bulldozers and plows were not effective on this particular fire.

This fire claimed the life of a New York State Parks employee who was assisting firefighters over the weekend.

Dry conditions in New Jersey and New York are a growing concern, not only for firefighting efforts, but also for the continued availability of drinking water.

Two major New Jersey reservoirs were at 51% and 45% capacity Wednesday, enough to keep the taps flowing, but low enough to raise concerns about what could happen with additional weeks or months of light precipitation. A river that provides an additional source of drinking water was at 14% of normal.

September and October were the driest two-month periods on record in New Jersey. Since August, the state has received 2 inches (5 cm) of rain when it should have received 0.3 meters.

No significant precipitation was expected in the forecast, officials said.

The ground is also very dry, McLaughlin added. This makes wildfires even more dangerous as they can burn downward, through dry soil and root systems, and last for months.

On a soil dryness scale in which 800 is the highest possible score, New Jersey ranks at 748, meaning the soil is dry nearly 8 inches (20 centimeters) below the surface. This level had never been reached before, McLaughlin said.

A wildfire that started July 4 in New Jersey’s Wharton State Forest by someone using illegal fireworks has long been considered contained. But it has been smoldering underground for four months and could reignite on the surface, McLaughlin said.

Conditions are also dry in New York, which issued a drought alert last week. Mayor Eric Adams urged residents to take shorter showers, fix dripping faucets and conserve water.

Just 0.01 inch (0.02 centimeters) of rain fell last month in the city’s Central Park, where October normally brings about 4.4 inches (11.2 centimeters) of precipitation. New York says it was the driest October in more than 150 years.

Massachusetts declared a drought Tuesday after more than a month of decreasing precipitation.

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Associated Press writers Christopher Weber in Los Angeles and Kathy McCormack in Concord, New Hampshire contributed to this report.