Riverhead firefighters put out mulch fire in Calverton

Riverhead firefighters doused a mulch fire Saturday morning on a Calverton farm.

A volunteer firefighter driving in the area saw smoke and called the firehouse. Responding chiefs found the source of the smoke, a burning mulch pile on a farm field south of Route 25.

Firefighters responded to the scene with an engine and a tanker at about 7 a.m.

The owner of the farm, Steve Mezynieski of Orient, is mulching to make topsoil, Riverhead Fire Marshal Craig Zitek said.

“He’s doing it the right way. He knows what he’s doing,” Zitek said. Sometimes mulch piles just get too hot, Zitek said.

Volunteer firefighters have been repeatedly called to put out mulch fires in several locations within the Riverhead Fire District this year: at the Calverton Shooting Range, at Horton Avenue Materials and at the Wells farm on Sound Avenue. Firefighters responded to mulch fires at the Wells farm three times in as many days last weekend and have been there to put out mulch pile fires half a dozen times this year.

Mezynieski, proprietor of Driftwood Farms in Orient as well as an excavation and materials company in Southampton, earlier this year sought an agricultural exemption from the town’s excavation permit requirements. He wanted to remove 415,000 cubic yards of materials from the 46-acre site, which he said was necessary to grade and level it for farming. The town board denied the request in September.

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