Massive brush fires along Sunrise Highway on eastern Long Island prompt large emergency response
SUFFOLK COUNTY, Long Island (WABC) -- Massive, wind-whipped brush fires are raging across parts of Long Island's Pine Barrens region on Saturday, prompting a large emergency response to control the blazes that led to a local State of Emergency in the town of Southampton in Suffolk County.
Flames from the brush fires started around 1 p.m. Saturday along Sunrise Highway and continued to burn into the evening.
The Southampton Town Police Department said Sunrise Highway reopened just before 9:30 p.m. Saturday after the blaze forced roads to be shut down.
Patty Lucci had been driving along Sunrise Highway and ventured into the woods because she is a retired police officer and was worried a car had veered off the road and caught fire. She realized minutes later what this really was.
"It's jumping trees at this point, and it's moving pretty fast," Lucci said, "The winds were insane. It got to a point where I had to walk backwards away from the smoke coming towards me because I couldn't breathe."
Authories say the area involved stretched three miles long by one mile wide from Center Moriches towards Gabreski Airport in Westhampton Beach. It was on the South Side of Sunrise Highway as smoke crept perilously toward that airport -- ironically air national guardsmen who saw it were at the ready and were available to start fighting the fire with water from above.
"You never wanna see something like this happen, but it's really good that it did happen within sight of the National Guard because they reacted immediately," said Terence O'Leary of NYS Homeland Security and Emergency Services.
Throughout the evening, brush trucks drove through the thick of it, putting water on the hot spots, which are hard to contain. The Westhampton fire was 80 percent contained as of Saturday evening as the Air National Guard conducts air drops to control the flames.
One firefighter suffered a second-degree burn to his face. He was airlifted to Stony Brook University Hospital. Two commercial structures nearby were damaged.
The combination of low relative humidity and northwest winds gusting 30 to 35 mph have created tinderbox condition across the Tri-State, the fires coming as the National Weather Service put out an alert for the elevated risk of fire spread on Saturday.
"With this wind, a spark will simply ignite it. This is something that we're gonna have to watch probably over the next few days," said Suffolk County Executive Ed Romaine.
Nearly one hundred different fire departments and EMS Units from Nassau and Suffolk Counties all pitched in to help, but at this point there was no loss of life.
"There are no residents at this time in the line of fire, but we are monitoring that very closely from the air and you will know by telephone, you will know by knocks on your door if that changes," said Southampton Police Chief James Kiernan.
The Town of Southampton asked resident to refrain from any and all outdoor recreational fires during the next 24 hours due to high winds and the danger of wildfires.
Hochul released a statement assuring that any resources needed would be dispatched to fight the fires.
"We are in close communication with local partners on Long Island to coordinate assistance and make sure they have the resources they need to protect their communities," Gov. Kathy Hochul said.
In additional to the National Guard, Hochul said New York has dispatched "personnel from the Office of Emergency Management, Office of Fire Prevention and Control, Department of Transportation, Department of Environmental Conservation, State Parks and the New York State Police to assist Suffolk County's response to this crisis."
"Public safety is my top priority, and I'm committed to doing everything possible to keep Long Islanders safe," Hochul said in the statement.
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According to Southampton Town Police, as of 9:24pm Sunrise Highway has been reopened.
Suffolk County Police also tell me the entire Sunrise Highway has been reopened.
