New East Hampton Town law requires enclosures for fires

The East Hampton Town Board has adopted a law requiring beach fires to be enclosed in a metal container, part of an effort to control rowdy partying by some summertime visitors to Montauk.

"People can't just dig a hole and build a big bonfire," East Hampton Town Supervisor Larry Cantwell said in a telephone interview Monday. The law was passed at Thursday's board meeting.

"A child was burned on a [Montauk] beach about four weeks ago, stepping on a fire that had been buried beneath the sand," Cantwell said. "People build large fires and then cover them with sand and that insulates the heat." He said the child suffered third-degree burns.

Cantwell said a similar law in East Hampton Village has been effective in preventing such incidents and other hazards from beach fires.