Long Island Wildfires: S’mores Gone Wrong

Long Island Brushfires:

The Pine Barrens, Fire Safety,& the Balance of Nature

This past weekend, wildfires erupted across the East End of Long Island, igniting in Center Moriches and spreading eastward along Sunrise Highway due to high winds. The cause? A family making s’mores, who unknowingly made a critical fire safety mistake—using cardboard as kindling. Cardboard is notorious for producing floating embers, which, in dry or windy conditions, can travel for miles, sparking secondary fires far beyond the original site.

This incident serves as a stark reminder that fire safety is not just about how we start a fire, but how we control, maintain, and extinguish it. It also highlights the unique fire-dependent ecosystem of the Long Island Pine Barrens, where wildfires play an essential role in maintaining ecological health—yet pose a growing risk to homes, businesses, and human safety.

At Forgotten Skillz, fire is an essential part of our teaching. Whether we’re instructing on bushcraft and survival, practicing ancestral skills, or relating teaching-stories from antiquity, the ability to build, maintain, and extinguish a fire safely is a core skill. We frequently teach around a fire, using it as both a tool for learning and a symbol of connection to our ancestors. As staunch environmentalists, we recognize our responsibility not just to teach fire-making but to emphasize fire stewardship—ensuring that those who learn from us understand how to use fire without endangering the land, wildlife, or communities around them.

The Importance of Fire Safety in the Outdoors

Fire is a vital survival tool and a beloved part of outdoor gatherings, but it must be handled with knowledge and responsibility. Even a small fire can become an uncontrollable wildfire in the wrong conditions.

How the Fire Spread Across the East End

The recent Long Island wildfires allegedly began in Center Moriches, and due to strong winds, embers were carried eastward, igniting patches of dry brush all the way to the Hamptons. Despite recent rainfall, drought conditions remain a concern, as soil and vegetation can dry out quickly, creating the perfect fuel for fast-moving fires.

Fire Safety Essentials for Outdoor Fires

Understanding fire safety best practices is crucial for anyone who enjoys outdoor cooking, camping, or survival training. Here are the key steps to ensuring a fire remains controlled and safe:

• Build Your Fire Lay Correctly: Use a proper fire ring or a cleared dirt area, ensuring no overhanging branches, dry grass, or flammable debris nearby.
• Use Safe Ignition Materials: Avoid cardboard, paper, or leaves, which produce embers that can be carried by the wind. Instead, use dry wood shavings, fatwood, or a fire starter designed for safety.
• Monitor the Fire Continuously: Never leave a fire unattended, especially in dry or windy conditions.
• Extinguish Thoroughly: Pour water over the fire, stir the ashes, and pour more water until everything is cold to the touch. Hot embers can reignite hours later, leading to dangerous flare-ups.

These principles are integral to what we teach at Forgotten Skillz. We train people not just to build fire but to do so with respect for the land. Every fire we light is a conscious act, requiring awareness, preparation, and responsibility.

The Pine Barrens: A Fire-Dependent Ecosystem

The Long Island Pine Barrens is a rare and fragile ecosystem that has evolved to depend on fire as part of its natural cycle. Unlike many forests where fire is seen as purely destructive, the Pine Barrens thrive on periodic, low-intensity fires that play a crucial role in maintaining ecological balance. Without these fires, the landscape would become overgrown with dense underbrush and invasive species, increasing the risk of larger, uncontrolled wildfires.

One of the most fascinating adaptations in the Pine Barrens is the pitch pine, a tree uniquely suited to fire. Many pitch pines possess thick, fire-resistant bark that protects them from the heat, allowing them to survive flames that would kill other species. Even more remarkably, some pitch pines have serotinous cones, meaning they remain sealed shut with resin and only release their seeds when exposed to the extreme heat of a fire. This ensures that after a fire has cleared out older growth and excess vegetation, new seedlings can take root and regenerate the forest.

Fire also plays a vital role in wildlife habitats. Many species in the Pine Barrens, such as the pine barrens tree frog and the eastern box turtle, rely on the ecosystem that fire helps maintain. By reducing undergrowth and keeping the landscape open, fire promotes a diversity of plant life, providing food and shelter for various animals. In this way, controlled natural burns prevent larger, catastrophic wildfires while ensuring the long-term health of the environment.

However, while fire is necessary for the ecological health of the Pine Barrens, it must be managed carefully. In today’s world, where homes, businesses, and roads have expanded into fire-prone areas, uncontrolled wildfires can be devastating. Fire management strategies, including controlled burns and responsible land stewardship, help strike a balance between protecting human life and preserving the natural fire cycles that this ecosystem depends on

Balancing Ecosystem Health & Human Safety

While wildfires are necessary for the Pine Barrens, they pose a serious risk to homes, businesses, and infrastructure. The challenge is finding a balance between allowing natural fires to occur while preventing destruction.

To achieve this, controlled burns are sometimes used by conservationists and firefighters to reduce fuel loads in a safe, managed way. However, public understanding and fire safety education remain critical in preventing human-caused wildfires like the one that started this weekend.

This is one of the many reasons Forgotten Skillz teaches responsible fire-making practices. We believe that those who learn how to properly build and control fire also develop a deeper respect for nature—and that respect leads to fewer accidental wildfires and a stronger connection to the land.

The Role of Fire Awareness in a Changing Climate

With climate conditions shifting, even small mistakes can have devastating consequences. Recent rainfall may have helped reduce immediate drought concerns, but dry conditions can return rapidly. Increased temperatures, longer dry spells, and stronger winds all contribute to higher wildfire risks in regions like Long Island’s East End.  Add to this the continued expansion of our local population, with the construction of new homes and businesses that follows, and fire becomes a real concern for those who may not have thought of it much in the past.

We must all be aware of these changing conditions and recognize that fire behavior is different in dry versus wet seasons. Anyone using fire in an outdoor setting should be checking local burn bans, wind advisories, and weather conditions before striking a match.

Learn Fire Safety & Wilderness Skills

Understanding fire safety isn’t just about preventing disasters—it’s about developing a deep respect for fire as both a tool and a force of nature. At Forgotten Skillz, we take this responsibility seriously. Our fire-making and survival training programs go beyond the basics of ignition and focus on understanding fire behavior, environmental impact, and safe management practices.

Our workshops teach safe and effective fire-building techniques tailored to different environments, from controlled campfires to primitive survival fires. We cover fire management strategies, ensuring participants understand how to prevent unintended spread, adapt to weather conditions, and use fire responsibly in any setting. Perhaps most importantly, we emphasize proper fire extinguishing techniques, ensuring that every fire is completely out before leaving an area.

Fire is not just about warmth and cooking—it is about connection to nature, sustainability, and self-reliance. Our training helps people read the landscape, assess environmental risks, and make informed decisions about fire use in the wild. We believe that learning to work with fire responsibly is a skill that fosters both self-sufficiency and environmental stewardship.

Final Thoughts

The Long Island wildfires this weekend were a harsh reminder that one small mistake can lead to massive consequences. Whether you’re camping, cooking outdoors, or practicing survival skills, fire safety must always come first. And if you want to truly master fire-making the right way, learning from experienced instructors is the best place to start.

At Forgotten Skillz, we believe that with knowledge, practice, and respect for the land, we can keep both ourselves and our environment safe. Let’s continue to learn, teach, and protect the natural spaces that we are all a part of.

Author: Michael A. Evans

Michael A Evans is a passionate advocate for preserving and reviving ancestral knowledge through modern applications. As the founder of Forgotten Skillz, he is dedicated to teaching the skills of self-sufficiency, bushcraft, and sustainable living, drawing inspiration from historical practices to empower individuals in today’s world. Michael’s work extends beyond survival skills; he also leads Vision Martial Arts in Patchogue, NY, where he guides both adults and children in realizing their potential through martial arts. Additionally, Michael contributes to the educational field as a collaborator on the “Little Laurie Science Stories” book series and the Ninja Née Science Education Program. With a background in therapeutic massage from the NY College of Health Professions, Michael continues to provide holistic care as the lead therapist at Massage LI.

Forgotten Skillz is a service of Synchronicity Coaching Inc.

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