Despite overnight rain on Long Island, wildfires still stoke concern

At least 10 small brush fires were reported Sunday across parts of tinder-dry Suffolk County, officials said, and the overnight rain will likely be far from enough to dampen the chance of flare-ups amid a moderate drought.

A spokesperson for Suffolk’s Fire Rescue and Emergency Services said the reports Sunday included a brush fire near a Riverhead building and another at a shooting range in Calverton. A Nassau police spokesman said the department hadn’t received reports of any brush fires Sunday.

On Saturday, Michael Uttaro, Nassau County's fire coordinator, said that a brush fire was extinguished in the Glenwood-Glen Head area, and also Thursday at Massapequa Preserve. The cause of the Nassau and Suffolk fires had not been determined Sunday. Dry conditions have made fire conditions ripe in other parts of New York State as well.

A state parks employee died battling a brush fire Saturday on the New Jersey border, officials said.

Meanwhile, the risk of brush fires across Long Island will remain high, forecasters said, despite the rain that fell overnight and into Monday morning. October was the driest month on record for the region since 1963, with just 0.12 inches of rainfall, according to the National Weather Service.

Up to a half inch of rain was predicted to fall before giving way to clearing skies Monday morning. After that, the forecast calls for mostly sunny skies for Long Island, with highs in the 50s and evening lows in the 30s through next Sunday.

"The rain will be helpful but it’s not enough to dampen down the potential spread of fires," said Suffolk County Fire Rescue and Emergency Services Commissioner Rudy Sunderman. "It’s very clear that we still have an elevated risk ... We’re still going to have to continue to be diligent."

Multiple departments responded Saturday to fires in Coram and Medford, Sunderman said. Suffolk County fire officials were asking residents to avoid lighting outdoor fires, including in backyard fire pits, and to take care to properly dispose of cigarette butts, he said.

Separately,  17 fire departments joined Riverhead volunteers to fight a 20-acre blaze that started about 12:30 a.m. Saturday in a wooded area between Sound Avenue and Long Island Sound in Baiting Hollow, according to the Riverhead police.

After battling the blaze for more than eight hours, firefighters returned Saturday night to again get it under control, Riverhead Fire Department officials said. A Ridge Fire Department volunteer was treated for smoke inhalation, Riverhead police said.

Gov. Kathy Hochul noted in a Saturday press release that the state parks department assigned personnel to fire watch duty at Wildwood State Park in Wading River, Brookhaven State Park in Ridge and Hallock State Park in Northville because of their close proximities to the Baiting Hollow fire.

In a statement Sunday, Hochul acknowledged the death of Dariel Vasquez, an 18-year-old State Parks and Recreation aide killed battling a wildfire in Sterling Forest in Greenwood Lake, New York on the New Jersey border. Authorities said a tree fell on Vasquez while fighting the fire about 50 miles northwest of Manhattan.

"New York is battling multiple wildfires due to the dry conditions we are currently facing," Hochul said in a statement. "Our state employees are working around the clock to protect our communities and we are keeping them in our thoughts as they put their lives on the line."

State police said Vasquez's death remained under investigation.

Other fires, including one in Brooklyn’s Prospect Park, have also contributed to air quality alerts in New York City, Orange, Westchester and Putnam counties and extending north through the Hudson Valley to Saratoga. The FDNY said Sunday that the cause of the Prospect Park fire remained under investigation.

With Darwin Yanes

By Grant Parpan

grant.parpan@newsday.com@GrantParpan

Grant Parpan covers Suffolk County courts and federal courts for Newsday. A Long Island native, he joined Newsday in 2022.