Town Supervisor Dan Panico spoke alongside Suffolk County Executive Ed Romaine and various local officials in a golden hour press conference on Saturday, March 8 as droves of firemen first-responded past Brookhaven to fight the fiery flames.
“This is a coordinated effort to make sure this does not turn into 1995,” he said in reference to the Sunrise wildfires that torched 4,500 acres of wooded land and about a dozen homes nearly thirty years ago.
Panico assured the community that he and the leaders were determined to pull out all stops for a swift containment of the initial fires and the smoky fallout.
“[From] The town of Brookhaven, I have authorized all of our heavy equipment from the Landfill, from our Highway Department, and from our Parks Department,” said Panico.
The head of said Highway Department—Superintendent Dan Losquadro—took to Facebook to provide an update from his office on Sunday morning.
“The Brookhaven Highway Department remained on call with Suffolk County FRES the entire day yesterday to provide heavy equipment and manpower in the fight against the wildfires along Sunrise Highway. While our services were ultimately not required, I wanted to take this opportunity to thank the more than 90 fire departments that responded and contained more than 80% of the fires in a single day.”
These firefighters are the true heroes of this fight, each of whom individually brought their efforts to bear in the collective effort of achieving their goal, Losquadro added. “Whether it be wildfires, car crashes, or house fires, these are the men and women of our communities who run towards danger. Not away from it. God bless them and keep them safe.”
“Suffolk County residents should know there is a tremendous amount of assets being thrown at these brush fires,” the South Country Ambulance wrote when the flames were still fresh.
“Despite the tough conditions, progress is being made.”
“We are here to assist any fire department—and namely the Town of Southampton. We offer our full support,” Brookhaven Town Supervisor Panico added. “We are in this together. That’s why this is not going to become the fire of 1995, because of the people standing behind me and the people who are bravely battling this blaze.”
Brookhaven Town Clerk Kevin J. LaValle and Assemblyman Joe DeStefano followed suit over social media.
“Thank you to all the Fire Departments and first responders for their work battling the current forest fires. High winds have made this a challenging fire to fight,” wrote LaValle. “Good luck and God bless everyone involved.”
Beyond the 90 different fire, EMS and law enforcement departments that responded, DeStefano singled out salutes for Panico, Romaine, and the National Guard for their efforts.
“We truly appreciate the men and women who are battling the Westhampton fire,” he said. “These are volunteers who dropped what they were doing and put their lives on the line.”
The William Floyd School District spot-on summed it up as well in its token of gratitude.
“Thank you to all of our firefighters, emergency services first responders, police, sheriffs, Air Guard members and all who are involved in fighting the fires, from the local community and beyond for all of their efforts today and every day as they work so hard and put their lives on the line to keep our communities safe,” the district wrote.
“THANK YOU!”