The town of Warwick and its villages, through their long history of cooperation, embody the spirit of the Helen Keller quote: “Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much.” Words became action in November, when over the course of two weeks, the Jennings Creek wildfire burned more than 5,300 acres of land straddling the New York-New Jersey state line at Sterling Forest State Park within the town of Warwick, on the eastern shore of Greenwood Lake. Drought conditions and wind gusts whipped energy into the wildfire; schools closed, and volunteers streamed to the Greenwood Lake Fire Department with donations of water and food. Both Warwick Town Supervisor Jesse Dwyer and Greenwood Lake Mayor Tom Howley praised the coordination by the Orange County Department of Emergency Services.
“‘Impressive’ is a poor adjective to describe the response,” Howley says, recalling that Orange County provided critical communications systems, including radios and drones, in addition to accounting for everything and everyone.
Dwyer is an EMT in Greenwood Lake, and is familiar with emergency services. Still, he appreciates how quickly the county rallied. “We recognized early on that this fire would require a big response,” he says. “I’m happy with how the county responded.” Tragically, one park ranger lost his life in a tree-felling accident in the fire’s early stages; however, no structures within the town were lost.
More than 400 volunteer fire departments—from the tip of Long Island up to Buffalo, and into New Jersey—responded with trucks and personnel. For days, the smoky air was swarmed with water-bearing Blackhawks and Chinooks that filled buckets from the lake to drop water on the flames.
The final nails in the wildfire’s coffin were experienced “smoke jumpers” from Montana, who rappelled from helicopters into the heart of the fire. One local firefighter recalled turning around, hose in hand, to find a smoke jumper had landed in the woods behind her. Mapping the fire road system in the state park, and improving communication with the state, are two of Dwyer’s goals to improve future fire response.
Partnering to Succeed
On the development front, more than 5,000 acres within the town have been preserved as part of the town’s landmark Purchase of Development Rights (PDR) legislation, and a potential 1,000 additional acres are at the application stage. To put that into perspective, the entire town measures just 67,000 acres. The town’s new partner to help its efforts? Orange County itself, with its own new PDR program.
“We have preserved natural resources as well as property values in the town,” Dwyer says. Those effects trickle to the villages, too, according to Warwick Mayor Michael Newhard. “Over time, the PDR has created a greenbelt of working farms and pushed business growth to its village centers,” explains Newhard, who with his family runs Newhard’s, a successful department/gift store on the main drag. In a nod to tourism and business, the village recently bought a historic building next to Village Hall to house the Warwick Valley Chamber of Commerce and a visitor center.
Business and Infrastructure
Affordable housing remains an issue, but businesses at the former Mid-Orange Correctional Facility help ease the tax burden, and the town has brought in millions in grants for myriad projects, Dwyer says.
Infrastructure projects loom large, including the imminent repaving of Route 94/17A from the New Jersey line to Goshen. The three-year, $30 million DOT plan includes repairing culverts, installing sidewalks, and adding a roundabout at the intersection of Route 94, Reservoir Road, and County Route 1A. “The outcome will be fantastic, but the process will be difficult,” Dwyer says.
Warwick is also expanding and improving its parks. Mountain Lake Park, the former Kutz Camp, will soon have a new pool. Off Route 94, at the entrance to the village of Warwick, the 14-acre Lewis Woodland will expand through a combination of a gifted parcel and additional property purchased through open space funding from the town, Newhard says.
“Strong villages help define a strong town,” Newhard says. “There is a great deal of communication and camaraderie between elected officials, as well as deep respect for what makes each of these centers unique.”
This article appears in July 2025.
