Hamptons Brush Fires Spark Fears of Historic 1995 Wildfires Repeating

Brush fires that scorched more than 600 acres of woodlands between Center Moriches and Westhampton on Saturday were under control by Sunday morning as officials remained guarded but said it could have been worse.

Officials repeatedly referenced the infamous Sunrise Fires that burned about 4,500 acres 30 years ago this August as firefighters worked through the night this weekend to prevent a repeat of those historic wildfires that raged for days and was considered the region’s largest in nearly a century. No homes caught fire this time, but two businesses were damaged, and two firefighters were taken to local hospitals for treatment — one for second-degree burns to the face and the other for a head injury.

“This was a very big fire that could have created big problems if not for all of us coming together,” Suffolk County Executive Ed Romaine told reporters Sunday morning during a news conference at Francis S. Gabreski in Westhampton Beach. “We thought this fire would jump the highway, in which case there would be big problems, because that’s where most of the pine barrens are.”

Romaine noted that 90 fire departments and 20 ambulance crews have responded — some as far away as Nassau County — with about 700 pieces of apparatus and more than 300 volunteers to fight the fire, which he said was two miles wide and two and a half miles wide before the flames were knocked down. The Air National Guard was called in to drop water onto the brush fire. Suffolk County and the Town of Southampton were under a state of emergency as a result.

“We are actively working with local fire departments to contain the fire and ensure everyone remains out of harm’s way,” said Jeffery D. Cannet, commander of the 106th Rescue Wing at Francis S. Gabreski Air National Guard Base, which deployed an HH-60G Jolly Green II helicopter to assist in the response and evacuated personnel from the base as a precaution.

Southampton Town Supervisor Maria Moore noted that some of the firefighters who responded to the recent fire helped fight the epic inferno three decades ago.

“We are fortunate to have veteran firefighters among us who fought the 1995 fires,” she said. “Their experience, training, and dedication are invaluable in this fight, and we stand in full support of their efforts.”

Rudy Sunderland, the commissioner of the Suffolk County Department of Fire, Rescue and Emergency Services (FRES), said the fire appears to have started in Center Moriches, spread to East Moriches and Eastport before making its way 10 miles east to Westhampton. He said the blaze, referred to as the Westhampton Pines Fire, had been 100% knocked down as of Sunday and crews are continuing efforts to contain the remaining smoldering areas to keep it from reigniting.

“Crews are out now to work on containing the fire using bulldozers and payloaders to encircle the fire areas and create fire breaks,” Moore said, noting that a ban on recreational fires is still in effect. “We are happy to report that other than some small hotspots there is no visible fire.”

Suffolk County Police Commissioner Kevin Catalina noted that arson squad detectives are investigating to determine the cause of the fire and if it was four separate fires or one blaze that spread east.

“It’s too early to tell whether or not this fire was started naturally or there was some nefarious origin,” he said. “God forbid this was started by somebody, we wanna make sure that it doesn’t happen again.”

Update: Westhampton Brush Fire Blamed on S’mores, Cops Say

Parts of Sunrise Highway and Speonk Riverhead Road were both closed during the brush fires, according to the Southampton Town Police Department. The roads were reopened as of Sunday. Southampton Town Police Commissioner James Kiernan said no residents were evacuated as a result.

Suffolk County Sheriff Errol Toulon noted that deputies have deployed drones to watch from the sky if the fire spreads — an effort that is continuing.

The blaze broke out after the National Weather Service issued a statement warning that conditions were ripe for fire to spread quickly on Saturday.

“The combination of low relative humidity values near 30% and northwest winds gusting 30 to 35 mph will create an elevated risk for fire spread across the region,” Upton-based NWS meteorologists warned in the statement. “Exercise caution handling any potential ignition sources, including machinery, cigarettes, and matches. Any fires that ignite will have the potential to spread quickly.”

In her state of emergency, Moore noted that the “dry weather and high winds, along with damage to woodland areas caused by Southern Pine Beetle infestation, is exacerbating the conditions for dangerous wildfires.”

Amanda Lefton, the newly minted commissioner of the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, downplayed how much trees downed by the beetles fueled the fire, but urged residents to wear masks to keep from breathing in the smoke.

“Pease take precautions to make sure that you are safe,” she said.

Gov. Kathy Hochul — who deployed personnel from the Office of Emergency Management, Office of Fire Prevention and Control, Department of Transportation, DEC, State Parks and the New York State Police — said she is shipping 100,000 N95 masks to help eastern Suffolk residents breathe easier in the aftermath.

“I’m also concerned about the air quality,” the governor told CNN.

Lefton noted that the forest will recover quickly.

“If there is any bright spot, it is that the pine barens is in fact a fire-dependent system,” she said. The ecosystem relies on fire to release nutrients into the soil, germinate seeds, and eliminate competing plant life.

Romaine, who cautioned that dead trees downed by the beetles litter the 100,000-acre Long Island Pine Barrens and could fuel future fires, said that officials and firefighters are not letting their guard down.

“We are staying vigilant for the next day or two,” he said. “We are concerned because the winds are still blowing that it might spark up again.”

And if it does, the first priority will be to keep the flames from jumping the highway into the rest of the pine barrens, as it did 30 years ago.

“We are in this together,” Brookhaven Town Supervisor Dan Panico said, cautioning that if the winds blew in a different direction the fire could have been more devastating. “And that is why this is not going to become the fire of ’95.”