Dry weather fuels wildfires on both coasts

( NewsNation ) — Fire crews are battling a wildfire on the New York-New Jersey border that has already resulted in the death of one volunteer firefighter and prompted air quality alerts in the region.

The fires in New Jersey are in a densely wooded area where around 3,000 acres are burning, and the fire is only 10% contained as of Sunday.

Smoke has diminished in the area after it rained Sunday night, but the amount of rainfall was not enough to make a dent in the fire.

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One aspect that complicates the fire is the underground root systems, which are dry, decayed, and rotting. That means the fire is also burning underground, which is hard to capture.

"Make no mistake, though precipitation is forecasted, that's not going to solve the problem we have here with this wildfire," said New Jersey Forest Fire Service Chief Bill Donnelly. "It's inevitable that this fire is going to continue to burn until it reaches our control line."

Donnelly told NewsNation they are hoping to secure control lines and contain the fire by the end of the week.

But it's a difficult task, with New Jersey not well equipped to handle something that is very out of the norm for the region.

Volunteer firefighter Dariel Vasquez, 18, died when a tree fell on him as he was trying to fight the Jennings Creek fire in New York.

That fire straddles two states. It began in New York and has spread thanks to drought and high winds. At one point, there were around 11 burning across New Jersey, with the cause for all of them under investigation.

In one case, an arrest has been made. A man in Ocean County, New Jersey, allegedly fired a shotgun and sparked a fire with an ember from the shotgun shell.

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Other fires, which are at various stages of containment, are also being investigated. One fire was 100% contained on Sunday, but others are still spreading in New Jersey, New York and Connecticut.

Even New York City has been affected, with a brush fire breaking out in Brooklyn's Prospect Park on Friday.

On the opposite coast, Southern California is also battling wildfires that have resulted in thousands of evacuations and more than 100 destroyed structures.

Wetter weather is in the forecast there as well, which could aid firefighters in their efforts to contain the blazes.