The last of the four Long Island wildfires that erupted on the edge of the Hamptons over the weekend and burned through 600 acres appears to be contained, but remaining smaller hot spots could still reignite, officials warned Sunday.
The final blaze, which was 80% contained by Saturday night, is believed to be now 100% contained, though fire officials were still tending to several smaller hot spots to prevent potential further flare-ups, said Mike Martino, the spokesman for Suffolk County Executive Ed Romaine, to The Post.
As of Sunday, all the visible fire was contained, according to Rudy Sunderman, the Suffolk County Fire Rescue Emergency Services Commissioner.
Still, scores of fire personnel remain scouring the region to ensure all of the fire has been contained and no hot spots flare up, Sunderman added.
While gusty winds had threatened to spread the blazes through the wealthy parts of the Hamptons, only two commercial buildings were damaged, officials said.
“One suffered significant damage. One was fairly destroyed. Beyond that there was no residential homes that were damaged in any means. We didn’t even have to evacuate the residential areas thankfully,” Second Assistant Fire Chief Lewis Scott said.
The fires, which broke out just after 1 p.m. Saturday, were at one point 2 miles long and 2.5 miles wide. Two fire personnel were injured, according to Sunderman. Both were treated and released from area hospitals.
Officials also said Sunday that they were investigating what caused the massive blaze — but likely wouldn’t have answers for several days.
“We have drones up assessing the area and trying to figure out where the fire started. We also have our arson detectives going up in the helicopters trying to figure out how this all started,” Suffolk County Police Commissioner Kevin Catalina said during a press conference Sunday.
“We’re interviewing all 911 callers and we’re going to get to the bottom of what happened. At this time, it’s too early to tell whether or not this fire was started naturally or if there’s some nefarious origin.”
At least 90 agencies, including fire departments, EMS agencies and the Air National Guard, responded to the flames that broke out in Center Moriches, East Moriches, Eastport and Westhampton.
On Sunday, the Rocky Point Fire Department was using an old World War II “deuce and a half” military cargo vehicle as a fire truck in the Pine Barrens to locate and extinguish hot spots.
Six firefighters from the North Shore Beach Black Sheep Squadron rode aboard the cargo truck and sprayed water into trees and on smaller sparks throughout the wooded area to ensure any hot spots were extinguished.
The fires shuttered the major route to the Hamptons and forced some residents to evacuate Saturday, authorities said.
An unlikely positive effect from the fires, according to Acting NY State DEC Commissioner Amanda Lefton, is that some fire-dependent plants will now get to regrow.
“If there is a bright spot, it is that the Pine Barrens is in fact a fire-dependent system, so much of the plant life depend on fire in order to have regrowth and to reflourish,” Lefton said.
“We won’t expect to see any major impacts to the ecosystem based on this fire. We will actually see a rebound in the ecosystem long-term.”
