‘Massive’ wildfire hits New York's Long Island, 'State of Emergency' declared, viral videos show smoke filling air

Fast-moving wildfires burned through a large swath of land on New York's Long Island on Saturday. Four wildfires that erupted at the edge of the Hamptons Saturday — sending residents into a panic.

Fanned by high winds, the wildfire caused thick gray smoke spewing into the sky and prompting the evacuation of a military base and the closure of a major highway.

Damage

The fires — in Center Moriches, East Moriches, Eastport and Westhampton — blanketed part’s of Long Island’s East End shortly after 1 pm, filling the sky with thick black smoke, threatening homes in middle class communities and wealthy parts of the Hampton, the New York Post reported.

Officials were quoted by the Associated Press as saying that three of the four fires were fully contained while the other one, in Westhampton, was 50 percent contained.

Two commercial buildings were partially burned, but officials said homes were not in the line of fire. One firefighter was flown to a hospital to be treated for burns to the face.

“Our biggest problem is the wind,” Suffolk County Executive Ed Romaine said. “It is driving this fire.”

‘State of emergency’

Gov. Kathy Hochul declared a state of emergency and said state agencies were responding to the fires around the Pine Barrens, a wooded area that is home to commuter towns east of New York City.

“This is still out of control at this moment,” Hochul told Long Island TV station News 12. “We’re seeing people having to be evacuated from the Westhampton area,” she said, adding that more evacuations may be needed.

Hochul said homes, a chemical factory and an Amazon warehouse were at risk.

Viral Videos

Videos posted to social media showed flames shooting into the air and columns of black smoke rising above roads.

One of the users who posted the video wrote on X, “MASSIVE FIRE🔥 I am a Long Island resident and live 25-30 minutes from here. We rarely get these, especially to this extent. It’s extremely windy today & that area of LI is VERY dry. Lots of forest/tree area. Lots of dead plants, grass & trees. Not a very good area for a fire.”

Another user posted a video, which she claimed was shot "from air. "Video of brush fire in Long Island as seen from air - over 70 fire departments are at the scene, one house was burnt down, while many people have been evacuated," the post read.

Mint could not independently verify the videos.

‘Public safety is my top priority’

In a statement, Hochul said the National Guard was providing support by helicopter and working with local law enforcement.

“Public safety is my top priority, and I’m committed to doing everything possible to keep Long Islanders safe,” she said.

In her comments to News 12, Hochul declined to estimate the extent of the flames, saying only that they were growing rapidly.

Air National Guard helicopters dropped water on the flames.

The Town of Southampton issued a warning in the afternoon against starting recreational fires due to the wildfire risk. That came around the time that the videos began appearing.

Rough satellite data indicated that fire and smoke stretched roughly 2.5 miles (3 kilometers) along Sunrise Highway, according to NASA’s Fire Information for Resource Management System.

Police closed a section of the highway, which is a thoroughfare to the East End of Long Island.

The fires raged near the Francis S. Gabreski Airport, from which the National Guard launched at least one helicopter. One of the commercial buildings that partially burned was near the airport.

Personnel at the base evacuated as a precautionary measure starting around 1:45 p.m., spokesman Cheran Cambell said in a statement.

(With inputs from AP)