Montauk Brush Fire Burns 25 Acres

A stubborn brush fire that reignited twice and proved tricky for firefighters to reach burned more than 25 acres of vacant land on the border of Montauk and Amagansett over the weekend.

The Montauk Fire Department first received a report of the fire shortly after 7 p.m. Friday, July 22 and called for neighboring departments to assist in extinguishing the flames, which took several hours, officials said. But the fire reignited shortly after 10 a.m. Saturday, July 23 and then again after noon on Sunday, July 24, officials added.

“It was so dry back there,” said Ed Ecker, a Montauk Fire Department spokesman. “It was just a matter of some logs and some debris that was still smoldering.”

Ecker said the blaze was the biggest local brush fire in years. One firefighter was treated for heat exhaustion at the scene.

He noted that firefighters used drones and a private aircraft to monitor the situation from the air due to the inaccessibility of the area on the north side of Montauk Highway, west of Hither Hills State Park and at the easternmost boundary of Napeague Harbor.

East Hampton Town Police detectives are investigating the cause of the fire, which has yet to be determined, Ecker said.