Riverhead Supervisor Tim Hubbard today signed an executive order declaring a state of emergency in the Town of Riverhead with respect to fire weather conditions existing and expected that are conducive to rapid wildfire spread.
The supervisor ordered that all recreational outdoor fires and burning activities are prohibited. These include open burns, bonfires, fires on the beach and the use of fire pits. The prohibition will continue until it expires or until any extension of the order expires.
The supervisor also ordered that “town personnel shall coordinate and utilize other municipal agencies and subdivisions as necessary, including volunteer fire departments and ambulance services, to protect the health, safety and welfare of the public.”
A red flag warning is again in effect on Saturday, Nov. 16 from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. A red flag warning is issued when critical fire weather conditions exist, including dry fuels, low relative humidity and strong winds. Northwest winds 10 to 20 mph with gusts up to 30 mph and relative humidity as low as 25%, are expected Saturday.
New York State has banned outdoor burning through Nov. 30.
Saturday’s red flag warning is the eigth issued for the Long Island region since Oct. 25.
Increasing the risk of fire spread is the long period of unusually dry weather in the region. Since Sept. 1, less than an inch of rain has fallen in Eastern Suffolk, according to data recorded at the National Weather Service in Upton. Normal rainfall during that period is close to 10 inches (9.97 in.) according to the weather service data.
The exceptionally dry period coincides with the arrival of autumn, when dry fallen leaves carpet the ground, creating a bed of what firefighters call “dry fuels” in the woods.
Several brush fires have erupted in Riverhead in the past 10 days, beginning with a small fire in a thicket of bamboo off Harrison Avenue a week ago, believed to have started by a campfire there.
Last Saturday morning shortly after midnight a large brush fire ignited on a wooded bluff in Baiting Hollow on the east side of Friar’s Head golf course. Eighteen fire departments responded with 125 people and numerous brush trucks, tankers and engines to battle the wind-driven blaze through the night through mid-morning. The fire burned about 20 acres of woods. One firefighter was taken to the hospital for treatment of smoke inhalation.
MORE COVERAGE: Firefighters from 18 departments battle large brush fire on LI Sound in Baiting Hollow
The fire on the bluff flared up again Saturday night, requiring firefighters from Riverhead and neighboring districts to return to the scene to extinguish flames.
MORE COVERAGE: Firefighters are back at scene of earlier brush fire in Baiting Hollow tonight, knocking down flare-up
Sunday brought more brush fires, this time in the woods south of Pulaski Street, north of the railroad tracks, in the area of a homeless encampment. While Riverhead firefighters fought that fire, there was a second alarm for a brush fire at the Calverton shooting range off Nugent Drive.
MORE COVERAGE: More brush fires burn in Riverhead Sunday
Tuesdat afternoon, Riverhead firefighters were called back to the woods south of Pulaski Street to tamp down hot spots at the scene of Sunday’s fire, which began flaring up due to windy conditions.
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