Long Island brush fires: How homeowners near Sunrise Highway were impacted
Wildfires that raged on the East End evoked memories of the 1995 blaze. Credit: Newsday/Steve Pfost
Mariah Ostler was driving from her brother's wedding in Maryland with her family when she first heard about the fires.
As friends sent her photos and videos of the smoke, "everything started to look familiar," said Ostler, 34, who lives in the Eastport area.
Then she realized: It was happening by her exit on Sunrise Highway.
"The kids started getting upset," said Ostler, whose three children are 13, 11 and 9 years old. "And they're like, 'Are we gonna have to be evacuated?' And we were trying to take it all in and figure out what's going on before we jumped to conclusions."
The family started to piece together a plan in the event of an evacuation by the time they arrived home. Even though her property is surrounded by woods, she never thought something like this could happen in her own backyard.
"It made me realize that I don't think my family is prepared for something like this," Ostler said. "What do you grab? I feel like the answer is, you just grab each other."
Last weekend, four separate brush fires broke out in eastern Suffolk County, affecting Center Moriches, East Moriches, Eastport and Westhampton. The blaze shocked some residents, while for others it evoked memories of the Sunrise Fire of 1995, which burned through thousands of wooded acres around Westhampton.
Steve Frano was on the front lines of both the 1995 fire and the recent blazes in eastern Suffolk. He has been a member of the Westhampton Beach Fire Department for 50 years, formerly serving as its chief and fire marshal for the Town of Southampton.
"I could see when we were driving down the road that it was bad," said Frano, 74.
He spent five hours battling blazes Saturday among every other fire department in the county, Frano said. For many volunteers there, this was their first big fire, he added.
"When you're in the woods, especially now since we have a problem with the pine beetle, the trees will break in half and come right down on top of you so easy now, which made it more dangerous than anything else," said Frano.
Frano advised homeowners: "Any dry brush that's close to your house, cut it back," he said. "Because if it's right up against the house and it's all dried and dead and a small ember gets in, then the outside of your house catches on fire."
Ostler said she'll be more on top of cleaning up leaves and debris around her backyard.
"Essentially that's just a risk of a fire, and I never thought about it like that and I didn't think we'd be in this position," she said.
Ostler is grateful for the efforts of Frano and all of the firefighters on the scene last weekend.
"All of our communities are nestled in the pine barrens," she said. "So our backyard is just a continuation of the pine barrens. If those firefighters and volunteers hadn't stopped that blaze, our backyards would just be engulfed."
Frano will be honored as the grand marshal of the Westhampton Beach St. Patrick's Day Parade on March 15. The theme of this year's parade is a fitting one: volunteerism, with members of several fire departments marching in the festivities.
As a lifelong resident of Westhampton Beach, Frano said his family had to evacuate their home in 1995. This time, he wasn't worried about his house.
"It's part of living out here," he said of the fires. "After 50 years of doing this, it has to be expected every now and then."
Lisha Jones Terry, of Westhampton, was in Bay Shore when she heard about the fires last weekend. She took it seriously, remembering where she was during the fires that swept both sides of Sunrise Highway 30 years ago.
"It was the first year my mom had bought her house up there," said Terry, now 48. "She was out there freaking out. They were telling her to leave, but she was hosing down her roof. She had just bought the house and it was a struggle to buy the house; she was a single mother and she had worked so hard for that house."
The fire came close to her property line but otherwise the house suffered no damage, and her mother still lives there, Terry said.
"I remember putting artwork in a van, and taking the artwork to safety for that person," Terry said.
When Terry's sons, ages 18 and 15, voluntarily left their Westhampton home last Saturday, they grabbed a few items on their way out. Among them: Terry's own artwork.
The conditions that led to the fires were a "bad combination" of weather factors, said J. Bret Bennington, chair of the department of geology, environment and sustainability at Hofstra University.
"Even though we had quite a bit of rain recently, in the last few days, the humidity has been very low," he said on Monday. "And we had these high winds, and that dries things out pretty quickly. The sandy soils in the pine barrens don't hold onto moisture very long; it drains through them very quickly."
It doesn't take much for fires to start in a climate like the pine barrens, Bennington added: From a cigarette butt to, more commonly for wildfires, a lightning strike.
Tracy Cronin, a real estate broker with Gold Coast Homes in Westhampton Beach, said many residents are concerned about the wildlife in the area. Some offered their trailers to help transport horses, if needed.
"A lot of wildlife have nowhere to go in situations like that," Cronin said.
Fortunately, the recent fires were brought under control before becoming "a huge catastrophe," Bennington said.
"It's a really interesting and unique ecosystem," he said of the pine barrens.
The fires rejuvenate the pine barrens in several ways, including by releasing nutrients into the soil and creating clearings that animals depend on, Bennington added.
"We can't think of wildfires as something abnormal," he said. "They're a normal part of the functioning of that ecosystem."
Mariah Ostler was driving from her brother's wedding in Maryland with her family when she first heard about the fires.
As friends sent her photos and videos of the smoke, "everything started to look familiar," said Ostler, 34, who lives in the Eastport area.
Then she realized: It was happening by her exit on Sunrise Highway.
"The kids started getting upset," said Ostler, whose three children are 13, 11 and 9 years old. "And they're like, 'Are we gonna have to be evacuated?' And we were trying to take it all in and figure out what's going on before we jumped to conclusions."
The family started to piece together a plan in the event of an evacuation by the time they arrived home. Even though her property is surrounded by woods, she never thought something like this could happen in her own backyard.
It made me realize that I don't think my family is prepared for something like this.
— Mariah Ostler, of Eastport
"It made me realize that I don't think my family is prepared for something like this," Ostler said. "What do you grab? I feel like the answer is, you just grab each other."
Last weekend, four separate brush fires broke out in eastern Suffolk County, affecting Center Moriches, East Moriches, Eastport and Westhampton. The blaze shocked some residents, while for others it evoked memories of the Sunrise Fire of 1995, which burned through thousands of wooded acres around Westhampton.
Lessons from front lines of Sunrise Fire of 1995
In August 1995, firefighters stood on a mound at the Westhampton Transfer Station on Old Country Road. Credit: Newsday / Bill Davis
It's part of living out here. After 50 years of doing this, it has to be expected every now and then.
— Steve Frano, Westhampton Beach Fire Department member and former chief
Steve Frano was on the front lines of both the 1995 fire and the recent blazes in eastern Suffolk. He has been a member of the Westhampton Beach Fire Department for 50 years, formerly serving as its chief and fire marshal for the Town of Southampton.
"I could see when we were driving down the road that it was bad," said Frano, 74.
He spent five hours battling blazes Saturday among every other fire department in the county, Frano said. For many volunteers there, this was their first big fire, he added.
"When you're in the woods, especially now since we have a problem with the pine beetle, the trees will break in half and come right down on top of you so easy now, which made it more dangerous than anything else," said Frano.
Frano advised homeowners: "Any dry brush that's close to your house, cut it back," he said. "Because if it's right up against the house and it's all dried and dead and a small ember gets in, then the outside of your house catches on fire."
Any dry brush that's close to your house, cut it back. Because if it's right up against the house and it's all dried and dead and a small ember gets in, then the outside of your house catches on fire.
— Steve Frano
Ostler said she'll be more on top of cleaning up leaves and debris around her backyard.
"Essentially that's just a risk of a fire, and I never thought about it like that and I didn't think we'd be in this position," she said.
Ostler is grateful for the efforts of Frano and all of the firefighters on the scene last weekend.
"All of our communities are nestled in the pine barrens," she said. "So our backyard is just a continuation of the pine barrens. If those firefighters and volunteers hadn't stopped that blaze, our backyards would just be engulfed."
Frano will be honored as the grand marshal of the Westhampton Beach St. Patrick's Day Parade on March 15. The theme of this year's parade is a fitting one: volunteerism, with members of several fire departments marching in the festivities.
As a lifelong resident of Westhampton Beach, Frano said his family had to evacuate their home in 1995. This time, he wasn't worried about his house.
"It's part of living out here," he said of the fires. "After 50 years of doing this, it has to be expected every now and then."
The Sunrise Fire of 1995 took place in summer and overtook thousands of acres of nearby woods. Credit: Newsday/John Paraskevas
It was the first year my mom had bought her house up there. She was out there freaking out.
— Lisha Jones Terry, of Westhampton, recalling the Sunrise Fire of 1995
Lisha Jones Terry, of Westhampton, was in Bay Shore when she heard about the fires last weekend. She took it seriously, remembering where she was during the fires that swept both sides of Sunrise Highway 30 years ago.
"It was the first year my mom had bought her house up there," said Terry, now 48. "She was out there freaking out. They were telling her to leave, but she was hosing down her roof. She had just bought the house and it was a struggle to buy the house; she was a single mother and she had worked so hard for that house."
The fire came close to her property line but otherwise the house suffered no damage, and her mother still lives there, Terry said.
"I remember putting artwork in a van, and taking the artwork to safety for that person," Terry said.
When Terry's sons, ages 18 and 15, voluntarily left their Westhampton home last Saturday, they grabbed a few items on their way out. Among them: Terry's own artwork.
'Bad combination' of weather factors this weekend
The aftermath in the pine barrens in Westhampton Beach after the wildfires on Tuesday. Credit: Randee Daddona
The conditions that led to the fires were a "bad combination" of weather factors, said J. Bret Bennington, chair of the department of geology, environment and sustainability at Hofstra University.
"Even though we had quite a bit of rain recently, in the last few days, the humidity has been very low," he said on Monday. "And we had these high winds, and that dries things out pretty quickly. The sandy soils in the pine barrens don't hold onto moisture very long; it drains through them very quickly."
It doesn't take much for fires to start in a climate like the pine barrens, Bennington added: From a cigarette butt to, more commonly for wildfires, a lightning strike.
A lot of wildlife have nowhere to go in situations like that.
— Tracy Cronin, of the East End
Tracy Cronin, a real estate broker with Gold Coast Homes in Westhampton Beach, said many residents are concerned about the wildlife in the area. Some offered their trailers to help transport horses, if needed.
"A lot of wildlife have nowhere to go in situations like that," Cronin said.
Fortunately, the recent fires were brought under control before becoming "a huge catastrophe," Bennington said.
"It's a really interesting and unique ecosystem," he said of the pine barrens.
The fires rejuvenate the pine barrens in several ways, including by releasing nutrients into the soil and creating clearings that animals depend on, Bennington added.
"We can't think of wildfires as something abnormal," he said. "They're a normal part of the functioning of that ecosystem."
Rachel Weiss joined Newsday in 2016. As a real estate/living multimedia reporter, Rachel writes feature stories and contributes to and appears in on-camera video packages. She was the lead reporter on Newsday’s LI Acts of Kindness series.
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