County executive on the scene of fire

Suffolk County Executive Ed Romaine is on the scene of a fire burning on the East End, saying he is considering evacuating Gabreski Airport and surrounding areas, including former Coast Guard housing just west of there.

“It’s going to be very active,” Romain said in an interview, noting that there are now 35 fire departments working to contain the blaze, which has burned from areas of Center Moriches to parts of Westhampton along Sunrise Highway.

Romaine at 3:45 said he’d just spoken to Gov. Kathy Hochul to give her an update and discuss the prospects of water dumps on the blaze. “We’re not doing that now,” Romaine said.

“The winds and all the dead pine trees from the pine beetle are making this a nightmare fire to fight,” Romaine said.

At least one house has been damaged, he said.

Romaine also noted the county is making a decision to evacuate the Amazon warehouse near the airport, because there are fireworks inside. “We’re making those [evacuation] decisions now,” he said.

The county has set up a staging area at a Suffolk Water Authority facility at the Westhampton exit of Sunrise highway.

A major concern, Romaine said, is making sure the fire doesn’t cross the south side of Sunrise to the north side, where there are thousands of acres of pine barrens, much of it dead trees. “This is truly concerning,” Romaine said. “I see where the fire has already burned through areas along Sunrise Highway….If it jumps the highway we’ll have a very serous problem.”