New York governor declares emergency as brush fires burn in Long Island

One firefighter has been transferred to a hospital with second-degree burns to the face. No other injuries have been reported.

(CNN) — New York Gov. Kathy Hochul declared a state of emergency Saturday after several wind-driven brush fires broke out in New York’s Long Island, sending large smoke plumes into the air and shutting down a highway.

Fire crews in Suffolk County responded to at least three “major brush fires” on the East End, county executive Ed Romaine said. The fires have shut down a stretch of Sunrise Highway, the New York Department of Transportation said.

There were no evacuation orders and no residents in the fire’s direct path as of Saturday evening but at least two structures have burned and crews rushing to stop the fires’ spread were contending with strong winds, authorities said.

The fires burned a structure near the Francis S. Gabreski Airport, where personnel were evacuated as a precautionary measure starting around 1:45 p.m., a spokesman told the Associated Press in a statement.

“We’re in a better place right now but we are very concerned about the overnight, and the increase of winds,” Hochul told CNN’s Jessica Dean Saturday. “This could be a multi-day event.”

The fires are burning in a nature preserve, but “it would not take much for the fires to jump outside that area and head toward populated areas,” Hochul said, noting the community of Riverhead is three miles away.

“All those images of what happened in the Palisades are so front and center in our minds,” the governor said, recalling the deadly wildfires that devastated California this year. “We need to be proactive, preventative and try to stop the worst from occurring with all the power that we have and that’s exactly what we’re doing.”

One firefighter has been transferred to a hospital with second-degree burns to the face, according to Romaine. No other injuries have been reported.

A fire in Westhampton, earlier estimated to be approximately 3 miles by 1 mile, was about 70% contained Saturday night, according to Suffolk County spokesperson Michael Martino.

“Our biggest problem is this wind…it’s driving this fire,” Romaine said at a Saturday news conference, pulling off his hat so it wouldn’t blow away.

Radar imagery shared by the National Weather Service on X shows smoke plumes from several small fires. The weather service had warned of elevated fire risk Saturday in New York amid low humidity levels and winds gusting at 30 to 35 mph.

“We are prepared for this, and we have 80 agencies and firefighting crews and agents and individuals all over working to put up a wet line, as you say, because that wet line is what our best defense against this spreading now,” Hochul said while noting the threat of an increase in winds overnight and the impact the fires can have on air quality.

Efforts to control the fires and keep them from spreading will likely continue into Sunday, Romaine said.

Hochul told CNN she’s relying on state funds to respond to the brush fires and “not counting on the federal government” amid spending cuts.

The governor said crews have been deployed from multiple state agencies, including transportation and fire prevention departments, to help with Suffolk County’s response to the brush fires.

“The New York National Guard has already begun providing air support by helicopter and is coordinating with local law enforcement,” Hochul said in a statement.

At least 50 deputy sheriffs are also on the ground providing protection from the brush fires in Suffolk County, Sheriff Errol D. Toulon said Saturday.

The fires on Saturday evoked memories of the 1995 Sunrise Fire that burned through more than 5,000 acres of the Pine Barrens nature preserve and forced hundreds from their homes, according to the Long Island Pine Barrens Society.

“We are in this together and that’s why this is not going to become the fire of ’95 because the people that stand behind me, but also the people right now who are bravely battling this blaze,” Brookhaven town supervisor Dan Panico said during a news conference.

Entire neighborhoods engulfed in smoke

Around 1 p.m. Saturday, Suffolk County resident Lauren Stiles said her family began to smell smoke inside their home. Looking out the window, they then realized their entire neighborhood had been engulfed in smoke.

They couldn’t figure out where the smoke was coming from, so they decided to drive around to investigate. To get a better view, Stiles’ family headed north on County Route 51 and stopped at a sod farm in Eastport.

That’s when they realized their neighborhood wasn’t the only one enveloped by smoke.

“As I was shooting video, I didn’t realize I captured at least three separate smoke plumes because I only noticed two when filming,” Stiles told CNN.

Stiles expressed her gratitude for volunteer firefighters, who run nearly all the 179 fire departments on the island, according to the governor.

“We are very grateful to Long Island’s volunteer firefighters who keep our communities safe,” Stiles said.

CNN’s Sarah Dewberry, Gloria Pazmino and Maria Aguilar Prieto contributed to this report.

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