A massive brush fire exacerbated by the city’s ongoing drought destroyed about four acres of Manhattan’s Inwood Hill Park, FDNY officials said Thursday. The raging blaze, which began about 3 p.m. Wednesday, tore its way through about four acres of parkland near W. 218 St. as upper Manhattan was covered in thick grey smoke for most of the day.

Steva Sowell-Hardcastle, a NYC Park’s Super Steward, says it was heartbreaking to watch, but that there could be a silver lining. “It was devastating to me, I mean this is my heart. We’re trying to turn this tragedy into a positive thing. Maybe we will see native species regrowing. We can target areas for regrowing,” said Sowell-Hardcastle.

Firefighters remain on the scene of a brush fire at Inwood Hill Park in Upper Manhattan after it flared up again overnight. The FDNY said reports of smoke and flames came in just after 2:30 p.m. Wednesday from a large area inside the park,