In Suffolk County, Long Island, brush fires that scorched hundreds of acres over the weekend have been contained, and authorities believe they have pinpointed the cause.
More than 90 fire departments, EMS crews, and the National Guard worked tirelessly to extinguish the fires that raged near the Sunrise Highway in Suffolk County from Saturday into Sunday.
On Monday morning, several agencies were still on the ground working on the hot spots and will continue to do so for the next few days.
Officials were investigating if arson was a cause, but said Monday that at this time, it appeared to be accidental.
The origin of the fire was believed to have started before 10:30 a.m. in Center Moriches/Manorville, on the north side of the Sunrise Highway.
The incident began around 9 a.m. when a local resident attempted to start a campfire in their backyard to make s’mores, but the strong winds made it impossible to ignite the fire, according to officials.
They used cardboard to light the fire, which ended up igniting and causing the back yard to go up in flames.
The fire was extinguished around 10:30 a.m. However, the embers from the first fire traveled and likely started the three other fires.
The second fire was reported around 12:57 p.m. on the south side of Sunrise Highway, an eighth of a mile from the first fire. Then around 1 p.m., the third fire started on Chatman Blvd, another eighth of a mile, southeast of the second reported fire.
Around the same time, a quarter of a mile from County Road 11, another fire started. All of the fires are a direct line of the strong north wind. That is, at least, the operating theory for now, officials said.
Law enforcement agencies are still interviewing all 911 callers to rule out any possibilities, but they “strongly feel that it was accidental.”
Westhampton Beach Fire Department
The fast-spreading fire prompted New York Gov. Kathy Hochul to declare a state of emergency in the town of Southampton in Suffolk County. Governor Hochul also implemented a burn ban for Long Island, New York City and parts of the Hudson Valley due to gusty winds and lower humidity — in effect now through March 16 when the statewide burn ban begins.
Two firefighters were injured while battling the fires, including one who suffered a second-degree burn to his face and another who suffered a head injury. Both firefighters have since been released from the hospital.
Two commercial structures nearby were also damaged as a result of the fires.
The fires broke out in the same vicinity of the Pine Barrens in which a much worse wind-driven blaze devastated thousands of acres along the Sunrise Highway in the late summer of 1995. Drought conditions that year also set the stage for the conflagration, which lasted over a week and whose cause was never determined.
Officials say the Pine Barrens is a fire-dependent system, which means much of the ecosystem and its plant life depends on fire in order to have regrowth and to flourish. Officials add that they do not expect any major impacts to the Pine Barrens because of the fire, but instead anticipate a rebound in the ecosystem long term.
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