Firefighters in New York said Sunday that a voluntary evacuation overnight helped them protect more than 160 homes from a stubborn wildfire near the New Jersey border as officials in much of the Northeast coped with hundreds of brush fires in tinder-dry and windy conditions.

Firefighters are very busy battling several wildfires in Manhattan, Queens and New Jersey as dry conditions, brush and falling leaves continue to fuel them.

Record-setting dry conditions in some parts of the U.S. are raising fears of new wildfires and also could threaten drinking water supplies if substantial rain does not fall in the coming months.Firefighters battled wildfires from California to New York on Wednesday,