On November 30 and December 1, members of the Southold Fire Department were part of an 8th Division Task Group that provided mutual aid coverage to the Island Park and Long Beach Fire Departments in Nassay County.
Leaving Station 2 at 0530 on Friday morning, Southold firefighters convoyed to the Long Beach City Hall where they were split into two groups; Cutchogue FD went with other Suffolk departments to the Long Beach FD, while Southold and Mattituck proceeded across the bridge to stand-by at the Island Park FD. Both Nassau County agencies had suffered greatly from the storm driven waters of Hurricane Sandy (Island Park's HQ was flooded to a depth of five feet), losing a majority of their apparatus and having a large number of their members forced from their homes and unavailable to answer alarms.
Accomodations for our firefighters were provided by the Island Park FD with cots and food available on the unflooded second floor of their HQ and Porta-Potties located in the parking lot. Our deployment ended at 0800 on Saturday.
Considering the devistation witnessed in South Nassau County and the dire equipment and manpower conditions facing these two department, it is most likely that we will be asked again to provide mutual aid to the area. Our firefighters are urged to offer their support to their brothers and sisters who are confronting difficulties that must be seen to be believed.
