Brush fire at SUNY Old Westbury contained

About 200 firefighters from 23 departments battled a stubborn wildfire in a remote area of the SUNY Old Westbury campus just north of the Long Island Expressway Friday morning, officials said.

The fire broke out at 10:35 a.m., spread to about 15 acres and was put out about five hours later, Nassau police said.

A firefighter, whose department was not identified, got back and shoulder injuries when his brush truck hit a tree, police said. A local hospital treated and released him, police said.

Craig Craft, the commissioner of Nassau's Office of Emergency Management, said the fire was mostly contained by 2:45 p.m.

"It was on the grounds of SUNY Old Westbury, deep into the woods -- I'd say 1,500 feet into the woods -- and the Jericho fire chief called for more units as a precaution right off the bat," Craft said.

Nassau County Executive Edward Mangano, who went to the scene and posted a photo on his Twitter account, praised the work of the firefighters, saying their swift action contained "what could have been a major incident."

A spokesman for the college, Michael Kinane, said the fire had originally covered two acres but spread before it was contained. He said it was not near any building on the 604-acre campus, which has about 400 acres of open space and woodland.

He said there were no interruptions to campus operations but that a roadway in the fire area was closed.

The cause of the fire is being investigated by the Nassau police arson squad and the Nassau County fire marshal.

In Suffolk County, a series of brush fires Monday raged through more than 1,000 acres of open space and damaged several homes before being brought under control on Tuesday. Officials said that was the seventh largest wildfire in state history.

There was a small brush fire late Friday morning just south of Sunrise Highway near Route 112 in Patchogue, but Suffolk County officials said it was unrelated to the earlier fires.

With Ellen Yan