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Fast-moving wildfires fanned by high winds have engulfed New York's Long Island, prompting the closure of a major highway and evacuation of a military base in the area.
The fires are raging in and around the Pine Barrens area east of New York City. According to officials, three of the four blazes were fully contained as of Saturday evening, while the fire in Westhampton was 50% contained.
The fires led to the shutting down of a stretch of Sunrise Highway that runs between Brooklyn to Montauk Point State Park on Long Island, the New York Department of Transportation said.
Meanwhile, the fires raged near the Francis S Gabreski airport, from which the national guard launched at least one helicopter. Personnel at the base evacuated as a precautionary measure, spokesperson Cheran Cambell said in a statement.
Governor of New York Kathy Hochul has declared a state of emergency.
In a statement, Hochul said the national guard had been 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 an update to local media, the Governor said the fires were "still out of control at this moment." "We’re seeing people having to be evacuated from the Westhampton area," she said and added that the flames were growing rapidly.
The Long Island wildfires come more than two months after the Southern California fires, the most destructive in recent years, killed 29 people and burnt nearly 60,000 acres of land.
In 1995, the Sunrise Fire burned through more than 5,000 acres of the Pine Barrens nature preserve and forced hundreds of residents to evacuate from their homes
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