
Quick-moving brush fires burned through a large swath of land on New York's Long Island on Saturday, fanned by high winds that spewed thick gray smoke into the sky and prompted the evacuation of a military base and the closure of a major highway.
Gov. Kathy Hochul declared a state of emergency and said state agencies were responding to the fires around the Pine Barrens, a wooded area that is home to commuter towns east of New York City.