Multiple wildfires broke out on Long Island on Saturday amid high-risk fire conditions of low humidity and gusty winds, forcing the closure of sections of a highway in Suffolk County and drawing the response of more than two dozen agencies.
Bill Dalton, a former chief of the Westhampton Beach Fire Department who is helping coordinate his department’s response, said that more than 25 agencies were involved in the effort to control what he described as “dozens” of fires as of late Saturday afternoon.
“We have a lot of assets on the ground, lot of communication as to where the hot spots are,” he said. “They’re popping up all over.”
Several departments have deployed brush trucks, he said, which are smaller fire trucks designed to fight wildfires. Helicopters and drones have been mobilized to get a bird’s-eye view of the fires, which now stretch in a seven-mile radius in the area around Westhampton and Eastport on the South Shore.
“We have it under control,” Mr. Dalton said. “Four, five more hours probably. Lots of cleanup.”
Images on social media showed billowing black smoke. The Westhampton Fire Department said that there had been no injuries and no evacuation orders were currently in place
The New York State Police confirmed that all lanes of the Sunrise Highway were closed eastbound at Exit 62 and westbound at Exit 65.
Gov. Kathy Hochul said the fires were in the Pine Barrens, a 105,000-acre nature park. The governor declared a state of emergency on Saturday afternoon, said a spokesman, Avi Small.
“We are in close communication with local partners on Long Island to coordinate assistance and make sure they have the resources they need to protect their communities,” Ms. Hochul said on social media.
The National Weather Service had warned earlier on social media that low humidity and northwest winds of 30 to 35 miles per hour would create an “elevated risk for fire spread.”
On Saturday the forecast materialized.
“We have gusty north-to-northwest winds, and they’re making it difficult to contain any fires that develop,” Jay Engle, a meteorologist with the Weather Service, said of conditions on Long Island on Saturday.
Winds are expected to calm overnight and humidity levels will increase, giving firefighters a break. But the winds are expected to return on Sunday.
“There will be heightened fire risk again tomorrow,” Mr. Engle said.
“Use extreme caution with all potential ignition sources (machinery, cigarettes, matches),” the Weather Service said. “Any fires may spread quickly.”
About 20 miles west, in the Sheepshead Bay neighborhood of Brooklyn, another brush fire broke out around 1 p.m. on Saturday.
New York City Fire Department crews and marine units responded, as did local volunteer firefighters and New York City Police Department helicopters. Crews were clearing that fire around 4 p.m., the Fire Department said. Fire marshals were investigating the cause.
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