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Ridge-Manorville Brush Fire ‘Extinguished’

Manorville-Ridge Brush Fire
Fire fighters putting out small pockets of fire on Tuesday (Photo credit: Rashed Mian/Long Island Press)
Manorville-Ridge Brush Fire
Fire fighters putting out small pockets of fire on Tuesday (Photo credit: Rashed Mian/Long Island Press)

Suffolk County fire and government officials confirmed to the Press Wednesday morning that the brush fire that destroyed roughly 1,000 acres of woodlands and three homes in Ridge and Manorville has been extinguished.

“As far as we’re concerned we’re 100 percent out at this point,” said Howard Snow, first-assistant chief of the Manorville Fire Department.

Click here to view more pictures of the Ridge-Manorville brush fire response

He added that the department suspended command operations around 5 p.m. Tuesday, about five hours after New York State police helicopters dropped hundreds of gallons of water over the pine barrens to extinguish smaller flare ups.

Vanessa B. Streeter, the spokeswoman for the county, confirmed in a phone interview that the brush fire that injured three firefighters was put out, saying: “at this current time it is extinguished.”

But she cautioned that winds could possibly cause several pop-ups in “hot spots” around the area.

The forecast in Manorville calls for northwest winds between 9 and 11 mph Wednesday, with a 30-percent chance of precipitation.

On Tuesday, Gov. Andrew Cuomo declared a state of emergency in Suffolk during a press conference outside one of the homes that was consumed by the fire.

“It could have been a lot worse…all of the ingredients were there for a real tragedy,” he told reporters at the scene.

Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone said, “We have prevented what could have been a significant disaster.”

More than 100 fire departments, including some from Nassau County, responded to the inferno which broke out at about 2:30 p.m. Monday near Brookhaven National Lab property. The lab itself was not disrupted or damaged.

The number of departments fighting the fire dwindled to 35 on Tuesday.

Suffolk County police Arson Squad detectives are investigating the cause of the fire. The cost of the damage has yet to be determined.