Massive brush fires that raged across Long Island over the weekend may have been caused by someone trying to cook s’mores for breakfast.
Residents north of Sunrise Highway in Manorville tried to start a fire in their backyard around 9 a.m. Saturday to cook up the treat despite heavy winds, officials said.
They had difficulty getting started because of the gusty conditions, so they tried to light up a piece of carboard to get it going, officials said.
The cardboard ignited, and “the backyard area all goes up in fire,” Suffolk County Police Commissioner Kevin Catalina said of the initial incident, which was knocked down about an hour later.
Although the blaze was extinguished, “the subsequent fires started as a result of that wind driving embers” that sparked three others south of Sunrise Highway close to 1 p.m., according to Catalina.
The fires tore eastbound into Long Island’s Pine Barrens and Westhampton in Suffolk County through Sunday before they were knocked down by emergency responders from more than 90 fire departments and EMS crews.
The flames spread to 2 miles long and 2.5 miles wide, with windy conditions spreading flames quickly and eventually destroying at least one commercial building and damaging another.
Two fire personnel were injured battling the blazes, but released from area hospitals, officials said.
