Revisiting an Old Flame, featured in FireRescue Magazine

On Aug. 24, 1995, a tanker from the New York National Guard’s Air Rescue Group stationed at Gabreski Airport in WH Beach provided assistance to the WH Beach (N.Y.) Fire Department as they battled the epic Sunrise Fire, a monstrous blaze that made international news as it tore through several wildland/urban interface areas of Long Island. Every volunteer fire department on Long Island as well as paid departments and additional crews from New Jersey, FDNY and Connecticut joined forces to control the wall of flames that leapt over the four-lane Sunrise Highway—and the trucks trying to stop it—and charged toward a housing development.

Experts predicted possibly all of WH Beach would be lost; the flames threatened hundreds of homes and thousands of people, and ultimately burned more than 5,000 acres on both sides of Sunrise Highway. Firefighters brought the fire under control after a week-long battle, but not a single structure was completely destroyed, and there were no fatalities or serious injuries. It became the largest wildfire on Long Island in recent history.