Firefighters to battle Westhampton brush fire on Sunday, with state of emergency in effect

Firefighters from dozens of departments are continuing their battle against the Westhampton brush fire on Sunday, after blazes spread for miles across eastern Long Island on Saturday.

While some of the fires have been contained, the Westhampton fire, the largest, continued to burn Sunday morning at about 80% containment. Officials said the danger remains that some of the fires will reignite.

Two firefighters suffered minor injuries. One has been released from the hospital, said Lewis Scott, chief of the Westhampton Beach Fire Department. 

Two commercial buildings were damaged in the Westhampton fire, Scott said. No residential structures were damaged. One of the businesses is Autogate Systems on Old Riverhead Road. The other building is a chemical company, but the building that was destroyed was not near any chemicals, Scott said.

More than 600 acres have burned. 

"There are no evacuations at this moment, and we hope to stay that way," Scott said. "We're hopeful that we'll be able to have 100% containment by the end of the day, hopefully before the end of today."

Scott said all roads that had been closed have reopened. He declined to offer a pre-daybreak assessment of the level of containment. Southampton Town's emergency response administration Ryan Murphy on Sunday morning said the fire is 80% or more contained.

Authorities brought in two bulldozers at about 6:15 a.m., used to clear paths for fire breaks. Crews from fire departments in Rocky Point and Yaphank arrived on brush trucks early Sunday, joining firefighters from across Long Island.

No evacuations had been ordered as of Sunday morning and Scott said there had been no damage to residential property. Michael Martino, a spokesman for Suffolk County Executive Edward P. Romaine, on Sunday said that the county had begun an arson investigation.

In a Saturday evening interview on CNN, Gov. Kathy Hochul pointed to the devastating January fires in California that killed at least 29 people and destroyed thousands of homes.

"All those images of what happened at the Palisades is frontmost in our minds," she said.

Suffolk officials said the first brush fire started in Center Moriches around 1 p.m. Saturday and spread to East Moriches, Eastport and Westhampton.

The Westhampton fire, at 2 miles long and 2½ miles wide, was the largest of the blazes.

'Abnormally dry' conditions

Several aggravating factors helped fuel the blaze.

Long Island saw relatively little snowfall this winter. That, combined with several days of gusty winds, made conditions ripe for brush fires, Newsday meteorologist Rich Von Ohlen said. Although peak brush fire season is still a week away, the U.S. Drought Monitor classified a large portion of Long Island as either "Abnormally Dry" or "Moderate Drought." 

The governor said she deployed personnel from multiple state agencies to assist Suffolk County in the response. The state flew an MC-130 to report on the fire and four Black Hawk helicopters supported the fire response, including one that dropped 660 gallon buckets of water on the blaze. 

First responders from more than 80 departments, including fire and EMS, were on the scene to quell the fire, according to Romaine. Some fire companies came from Nassau County.

The flames jumped County Road 31 to Gabreski Airport, igniting the trees in that area and engulfing the commercial buildings. 

Evacuations possible

Romaine on Saturday told Newsday he may need to evacuate Gabreski Airport and surrounding areas, including former Coast Guard housing just west of there, "depending on how the fire shifts. Our biggest problem is the wind."

A major concern, Romaine said, was making sure the fire didn't cross the south side of Sunrise Highway to the north side, where there are thousands of acres of pine barrens, much of it dead trees killed by a pine beetle infestation.

Southampton Supervisor Maria Moore said that she too had declared a state of emergency so that the firefighters had all the resources they need to contain the blaze.

She said that some of the first responders had been around to fight a large wildfire that had scorched the East End in the 1990s.

Moore urged residents to heed emergency personnel and keep up-to-date on developments.

"I’m urging all residents to stay informed, follow emergency instructions, and prioritize their safety," she said. "We will provide updates as the situation develops, and we appreciate the community’s cooperation during this critical time."

 'Work cut out for them'

Tanya Layburn, of Hampton Bays, was in Mattituck with her children Randy, 25, and Barbara, 28, when they got a call about a fire Saturday afternoon. She said they drove east toward Westhampton and found themselves dangerously close to the fire near Gabreski Airport before firefighters descended on the scene.

"We almost didn't know if we were gonna get out of there," she said. 

The fire brought back memories of the Sunrise Fire of 1995, she said.

"They fought that for days," she said.

Alexon Munson-Catt, 31, of Farmingville, was driving out east with Shelby Baloou, 33, of Farmingville, when they saw plumes of smoke "across a pretty large area" that got heavier as they approached Riverhead.

He said there was a "reddish-hue" to the flames as they were redirected off Sunrise Highway to avoid closures.

Nicolas Morea, 22, of Hampton Bays, said he was in Riverhead when he spotted the smoke and drove south toward Dune Road. He ended up watching first responders arrive near the airport and said he saw fire trucks from as far as Blue Point and Patchogue.

"I assume they got their work cut out for them right now," he said.