The cause of multiple brush fires on Saturday has been preliminarily ruled accidental, Suffolk County Police said in a statement this afternoon.
Suffolk County Police Arson Section detectives believe the cause is related to a fire that spread following an attempt to make s’mores at a home on North Cozine Road in Manorville, according to a police press release.
It’s believed strong winds spurred additional fires from embers leading to the brush fires, police said.
Open burns have been prohibited on Long Island, in New York City and in six counties in the Hudson Valley regions due to the combination of dry conditions and strong winds, Gov. Kathy Hochul announced Sunday.
The ban will continue through March 16, which is the start of the annual statewide burn on residential brush burning that runs from March 16 through May 14, traditionally the time when fire spread risk is at its peak.
Hochul declared a state of emergency in Suffolk County on Saturday as a wildfire raged in the pine barrens in Westhampton. The fire was the largest of four that ultimately burned some 400 acres in the pine barrens.
Suffolk County Police detectives, including arson detectives, are investigating the cause of the fire, Suffolk County Police Commissioner Kevin Catalina said at a press conference yesterday called by County Executive Ed Romaine at Gabreski airport in Westhampton.
Eighty volunteer fire departments and 10 EMS agencies responded to fire, Suffolk County Fire Rescue and Emergency Services Commissioner Rudy Sunderman said.
The state deployed ground and air support to assist with fire suppression, the governor said in a press release yesterday. At her direction, the New York National Guard had four helicopters performing water drops, and a C-130 supporting aerial monitoring, according to the press release. On Saturday, the helicopters flew 88 missions, dropping 24,200 gallons of water on the fires, the governor said.
Riverhead, Flanders, Jamesport, Wading River and Manorville fire departments were among the departments that responded to stop the fire in Westhampton, a task made difficult by shifting 35 mph winds that spread the flames.
About 25 firefighters from Riverhead Fire Department responded with the department’s two brush trucks, a pumper truck and a tanker, Riverhead Fire Department Chief J.R. Renten said today.
“They fought a lot of fire,” Renten said. “We had the head [of the fire] coming toward us on County Road 31.”
Renten commended the job done by the department’s assistant chiefs, Pete Kurzyna, Sean Brennan and Ray Jacobs, in the response.
“Guys had to drag lines and go into the woods to protect structures from the fire,” Renten said.
At one point the fire spread underneath one of the brush trucks, putting it at risk of being damaged by fire, but the crew put it out and got the truck out. “The truck was fine, the guys were fine,” the chief said.
No Riverhead firefighters were injured, Renten said.
Two firefighters from other departments were injured fighting the fire, County Executive Ed Romaine said yesterday. One suffered second-degree burns to his face and was transported by helicopter to Stony Brook University Hospital for treatment at its burn center. The other suffered a head injury and was transported to Peconic Bay Medical Center for treatment, Romaine said.
“To the firefighters who put their lives at risk, thank you. I cannot say thank you enough to those that served,” Romaine said.
“A lot of downed trees in this vicinity fed this fire, and that’s when you saw the huge clouds of smoke that engulfed this entire area,” Romaine said.
The pine barrens have been hit hard by the Southern Pine Beetle, an invasive pest that has killed large tracts of pine forest across Long Island in recent years. The dead trees provide “fuel load” for brush fires that start.
But the fires themselves are a natural and essential feature of the pine barrens ecosystem, which depends on fire to regenerate the forest. The heat from the fire opens pine cones and allows seeds within them to disperse, which leads to new growth.
This year marks the 30th anniversary of the 1995 Sunrise Fire in Westhampton that burned for days and scorched 3,198 acres.
Numerous public officials attended yesterday’s press conference, including State Department of Environmental Conservation Commissioner Amanda Lefton, Rep. Nick LaLota, Southampton Town Supervisor Maria Moore, Brookhaven Town Supervisor Dan Panico and County Legislator Ann Welker.
Romaine said officials from across the area contacted him to offer support. He had calls “from President Trump’s people, from the governor, Sen. Schumer, Congressman LaLota, from Mayor Adams and the county executive of Nassau. It shows what we can do when we work together,” he said.
“Sometimes we forget that in times of crisis, Americans can come together and address problems,” Romaine said.
LaLota said he’d received text messages and calls from his colleagues, “from all over, from California and Indiana, regardless of party, to see how we’re doing.”
It was a tremendous effort by officials of all levels of government, he said.
“Here in Suffolk County, regardless of what party you’re from, we appreciate our first responders for what they did,” LaLota said.
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