When his beeper went off on Saturday, March 8th, Ross Donneson was enjoying lunch with some family at his mom’s house. Seeing the immediacy of the call, the 27 year member of the Westhampton Beach Fire Department rushed to the firehouse to grab his gear and hop on the second due bus – headed for Old Riverhead Road.
It was about 1:00 when the fire broke out, a few sparks turned into an inferno in a matter of minutes; spreading across the dry brush that makes up the Pine Barrens located just south of Sunrise Highway and east of Old Riverhead Road. Donneson, a former fire chief (2015-’16) and current firefighter arrived at Autogate, one of the two structures in the line of fire, 20 minutes later, coming face to face with “a wall of fire” that was driven by 40 mph winds.
He and his crew quickly set off to douse the flames with what water they had in the trucks, and shortly after that supply had run out, they rushed to connect to a nearby fire hydrant, only to find that the fire had overtaken the building in the short timespan that they had been setting up the hydrant.
The pallets of wood, large trucks, and other equipment at Autogate quickly caught aflame, building the blaze. The fire then spread to the inside of the building, leaving the firefighters with no choice but to dismantle the roof. With the water supply scarce, the firefighters utilized a garden hose and cans of water from the trucks to battle the flames until reinforcements arrived. Donneson says that the fire was so strong, he was praying that his fire-resistant gear and trucks wouldn’t catch fire. At the time, he wondered whether he would make it out alive.
After approximately two hours stationed at Autogate, the fire jumped Old Riverhead Road, on a path of destruction towards Gabreski Airport. Donneson’s squadron was ordered to abandon Autogate, which was partially controlled by then, and instead head to some warehouses on the eastern outskirts of the Airbase. There the fire continued to spread across the treetops and devour dry leaves and brush.
Usually by this time, new crews would have come to relieve tired firefighters from the scene, allowing them to recharge and rest after working so extraneously for such long periods of time. However, this was not the case during the WHB Brush Fire, as even though 88 departments had sent in their reinforcements; at least one truck from each Suffolk department and even some from Nassau, it was not still contained for the majority to head home for the day.
Finally, around 7 pm after six hours at the scene, Donneson and his crew headed back to the firehouse, knowing the fire was about 50% contained. There, they found donations, supplies, and food donated from various community institutions and businesses.
“The community really came together,” said Donneson, when reflecting on the amount of volunteers both fighting the fires and helping out at the fire department. In addition, even New York State’s Governor Hochul and NYS Senators, and President Trump’s team reached out giving thanks to the fire crews.
By 6 pm Monday March 10, the fire was declared fully extinguished by Westhampton Beach Fire Department Chief Lawrence Saccente. In the time it burned, the fire conquered about 400 acres of land in the Pine Barrens, and two nearby structures. Over 600 emergency service personnel were involved in battling this fire, both on the front lines and behind the scenes.
While unlikely, there is always a chance of another fire of this intensity, especially in a location with dry brush and forest as expansive as Westhampton’s. Because of this, the Department of Environmental Conservation is taking preliminary cautions to prevent another fire this destructive from happening in the future. They run controlled burns to test the potential of a fire and to get rid of dry brush and lingering fossil fuels that are known to advance a fire. Furthermore, forest rangers flocked to the scene to search for underground fires in tree roots and extinguish any they come across.
While there is still speculation as to how the fire began, there is no question that the Westhampton Beach Fire Department and the local community responded quickly and courageously, risking their lives to protect our town.
