This photograph offered by the New York Air Nationwide Guard exhibits smoke from the fires within the Pine Barrens off Dawn Freeway in New York’s Lengthy Island, on Saturday, March 8, 2025.
Cheran Campbell/New York Air Nationwide Guard by way of AP
Firefighters in New York knocked down a dwindling brush hearth in a wooded stretch of Lengthy Island on Sunday as officers warned that prime wind gusts might depart the area susceptible to further blazes.
Gov. Kathy Hochul declared a state of emergency a day earlier after 4 separate fires broke out throughout giant swaths of Lengthy Island’s Pine Barrens area, prompting closures to the freeway and evacuations of a navy base.
As of Sunday, all seen flames had been knocked down, together with the final remaining hearth burning within the hamlet of Westhampton, in response to Suffolk County Hearth Coordinator Rudy Sunderman. He stated at a Sunday information convention that crews have been engaged on containment traces across the hearth to forestall additional unfold. Authorities stated the fireplace had not grown since early Sunday.
Nonetheless, officers have been cautious as wind gusts of as much as 30 mph (48 kph) have been anticipated Sunday, in response to the Nationwide Climate Service,
“We’re involved as a result of the winds are nonetheless blowing, that may spark up once more,” stated Suffolk County Government Ed Romaine.
Romaine thanked firefighters who labored via the evening, including that greater than 80 volunteer hearth departments battled the blaze, which burned about 600 acres (243 hectares).
Two firefighters have been hospitalized for accidents and launched, in response to Sunderman.
The reason for the fireplace remained below investigation.
Dozens of detectives have been interviewing 911 callers and utilizing drones. Suffolk County officers stated earlier that the police division’s arson squad had initiated an investigation into the blaze, although there was no instant proof to counsel arson.
“We’ll resolve what occurred,” stated Suffolk County Police Commissioner Kevin Catalina. “Right now it is too early to inform whether or not or not this hearth began naturally or there’s some nefarious origin.”
A minimum of two industrial constructions have been broken.
Roughly 15 miles (24 kilometers) west, officers have been monitoring a small brush hearth alongside Dawn Freeway early Sunday, Brookhaven City Supervisor Daniel J. Panico stated. However there have been no seen flames as of Sunday morning.
