Contact The Editor
Articles By This Author
Several major brush fires that spread through parts of Long Island over the weekend, prompting highway closures and evacuations from a nearby military base, are believed to have been accidentally started by a resident making s'mores, according to police.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) declared a state of emergency after the blazes began Saturday amid dry conditions. Most of the fires were under control by Sunday after burning about 600 acres, officials said.
Suffolk County Police Commissioner Kevin Catalina said at a news conference Monday that four fires were initially reported, but all are now believed to have been sparked by the same incident at a home in Manorville, in central Long Island, on Saturday morning.
"The way that fire started is that somebody was out at about 9:30 in the morning cooking s'mores, making s'mores. The individual making s'mores was unable to get the fire lit due to the winds, but they used cardboard to initially light that fire," said Catalina. "That person subsequently discovers that the fire does ignite and the backyard area all goes up in fire."
By 10:30 a.m. the initial fire was extinguished, the police commissioner said. But by around 1 p.m., other fires were reported.
"All of those fires are in a direct line with the strong northwest wind that was blowing that day," he continued. "And it is believed that the embers from each fire traveled and continuously started more fires. So that is the operating theory right now."
Twenty-five detectives were still working on the case and following up with 911 callers and other leads to rule out other possibilities, Catalina said Monday, but stated that "so far, our investigation is pointing strongly toward an accidental origin for Saturday's fires."
Suffolk County Executive Ed Romaine said that 80 fire departments and 10 emergency medical service units responded to the fires, with smoke visible as far away as Connecticut. "This is a fire that could have been far more serious than it was," he said at the same news conference.
Two firefighters were injured fighting the flames but were in a good condition after being taken to hospital, a Suffolk County spokesman said over the weekend, adding that two commercial buildings were also damaged.
Hochul has issued an immediate burn ban for Long Island City and parts of the Hudson Valley, citing "increased wildfire risks due to the combination of dry conditions and strong winds." It comes ahead of an annual statewide ban that starts on March 16.
The move outlaws outdoor fires to dispose of brush and debris, as well as uncontained campfires or open fires for cooking - though backyard fire pits, and small contained campfires or cooking fires are still allowed.
New York City also saw hundreds of brush fires late last year, following its driest month ever recorded, The Washington Post previously reported.
"The thing that folks have to understand is that this is the new normal," Zach Iscol, commissioner of New York City Emergency Management, said at the time, adding that the brush fires were one of the impacts of climate change. A 2024 study published by the University of California at Merced also linked increases in droughts to climate change.