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The East Coast Is Sinking

New satellite-based research reveals how land along the coast is slumping into the ocean, compounding the danger from global sea level rise.

A major culprit: overpumping of groundwater.

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Fire Island AIDS Memorial overlooking the ocean will be a fitting ‘tribute’ to honor those who died, organizers say

Eric Sawyer, who’s involved in a project to build a Fire Island AIDS Memorial, in front of a New York City AIDS memorial on Wednesday. Credit: Ed Quinn

By Brianne Leddabrianne.ledda@newsday.comUpdated January 28, 2024 7:10 am


In the 1980s, Eric Sawyer recalls performing a somber ritual when seasonal residents of the barrier island returned each spring. He would make the rounds, as a family doctor might, to check on friends and neighbors who were ill to see if they had survived the winter.

HIV was sweeping the country at the time, with gay men among its earliest victims. On Long Island, between 1983 and 2022, nearly 10,000 individuals were diagnosed with AIDS, the disease caused by the human immunodeficiency virus. Across the state, by 2022, more than 130,000 had died from the illness. The Fire Island communities of the Pines and Cherry Grove — havens for the LGBTQ+ community — were especially hard-hit.

“It was a horrible time because we practically witnessed half of our generation dying in front of us,” said Sawyer, 69, a founding member of ACT UP and Housing Works, organizations dedicated to combatting the AIDS epidemic. “There were no treatments to prevent these deaths and not much was known early on about how the disease was spread.”

Now, more than 40 years later, Sawyer, who is gay and splits his time between Manhattan and his house in Fire Island Pines, and other residents, like Jay Pagano, are planning to create a Fire Island AIDS Memorial for those who died on the island. The memorial will be built between the Pines and Cherry Grove, with a sitting area overlooking the beach and Atlantic Ocean, where the ashes of many who died of AIDS were spread.

WHAT TO KNOW

• More than 40 years after the HIV virus started sweeping across the country, advocates on Fire Island have joined to build a memorial in honor of those who died from AIDS.

• Cherry Grove and Fire Island Pines, hamlets on the barrier island, are among the communities that advocates say were most heavily impacted by the epidemic. 

• Federal lawmakers have introduced legislation that would authorize the nonprofit The Pines Foundation to build and maintain the memorial, which would partly fall onto federal land managed by the National Park Service.

“The Pines and Cherry Grove were more affected by the AIDS epidemic probably than any community in the United States or the world,” said Pagano, 79, a Pines resident and past president of the Fire Island Pines civic group.

Pagano said he lost many friends, including two summer visitors who died at his house.

“They’re with me every day,” he said

Charles Renfro’s preliminary design of the planned memorial, which he said will be the “reflecting place of many of our friends and family who died at the height of the epidemic.” Credit: Diller Scofidio + Renfro

Organizers said they plan to play recorded interviews with survivors of the epidemic to educate visitors about the impact of HIV on Fire Island.

“We want this memorial to be about experience more than image,” said New York architect Charles Renfro, who is on the planning team and has drawn a preliminary design for the memorial.

Designs show a dune-like sound reflector, focusing the sound of waves on a bench with views of the ocean. Pagano said the design would be composed of cemented sand to look like concave dunes coming together.

“It will be about hearing, feeling and seeing the island in new ways and being reminded that the ocean, its sound magnified through a natural reflector, is the reflecting place of many of our friends and family who died at the height of the epidemic,” Renfro said.

The memorial is also meant to help educate younger generations, said Denise Roberts Hurlin, 62, one of the tribute’s organizers and co-founder of Dancers Responding to AIDS, a nonprofit meant to raise awareness and money to directly help individuals living with AIDS.

“Whether you’re an ally or a queer person, it all matters,” Hurlin said. “To have this information, as well as a place of beauty to come and reflect, it helps that community into the future.”

Pagano said the Fire Island community has embraced the project. The organizers have collected about $75,000 in donations and said they plan to launch a fundraising campaign through The Pines Foundation, a nonprofit that raises money for programs and projects in the Pines.

Pagano estimates the memorial will cost around $250,000. Once legislation allowing the memorial to be built on federal parkland has been passed, he hopes to start construction by the end of next year and wrap up the project in 2026.

The bipartisan legislation, introduced on Dec. 14 by Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) and Rep. Andrew Garbarino (R-Bayport), would authorize The Pines Foundation to build and maintain the memorial. The legislation is needed because the project would partly fall onto land that’s part of the Fire Island National Seashore, a federally designated wilderness managed by the National Park Service.

Advocates for the memorial are optimistic that the legislation will be passed. Hurlin, reflecting on prospects for the tribute, said she believes the “path to realization has quite a bright light to it.”

Sawyer tested positive for HIV in 1985, the same year the screening test was first developed. He’d already been sick for years, with symptoms first developing in 1982.

The diagnosis frightened him. His partner died from the disease in 1986, and Sawyer felt “extremely fearful” he would “perish in the horribly painful and ugly way that [his partner] lost his life.”

“I used to go to the back on the ferry boat, on the upper deck at the end of the season when I was leaving [Fire Island] for the winter, and say a little prayer that I would survive … to be able to come back to that place, which was one of my favorite places on earth, the following spring,” Sawyer said.

It seems fitting, he added, that there’ll be “some kind of a recognized tribute to memorialize those people lost,” in a place so many chose to be the “final resting place for their remains.”

“That’s part of why we wanted to have the memorial be adjacent to the ocean,” Sawyer said, “so that people could go to the memorial site and contemplate and remember the loved ones that they lost while looking into the ocean.”

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers approves federal funding to address Fire Island coastal erosion

By CBS New York Team

Updated on: January 26, 2024 / 11:30 PM EST / CBS New York

OCEAN BEACH, N.Y. — Fire Island could soon get federal help to deal with beach erosion.

Gov. Kathy Hochul said Friday night that the the United States Army Corps of Engineers approved the state’s request for federal support. It’s the first step to get money to make repairs to the coastline and replenish the sand.

“The Fire Island seashore is one of our State’s greatest natural treasures. We are going to work with the Army Corps to immediately begin repairs on our coasts,” Hochul said.

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A Powerful Storm Hits Fire Island

Last week an unnamed storm event came out of the Gulf and raced up the east coast, leaving trees blown down, power outages affecting thousands, and causing major coastal and inland flooding on its way north. By the time it arrived on Fire Island, the storm’s barometer readings were so low that it carried the destructive power of a Category One hurricane. The buoys that measure wave height 50 miles offshore registered 27 feet before the buoys failed. When the swells hit our beaches, they were still 14 – 16 feet high and powerfully destructive. This FIA UPDATE will offer you information about the extent of the storm damage, how the aftermath is being assessed and addressed, and the leadership role of the FIA in recovery efforts.

The storm moved quickly, but even so it delivered a surprisingly powerful 1-2 punch to the island. On the ocean side, beaches and dunes were decimated up and down the island, although the far west end (Kismet to Fair Harbor) was spared more serious sand loss. As the ocean waves began to abate, however, the tides in the bay surged to near historic levels. Water quickly rose over bulkheads, sending several inches of bay water flooding through low lying areas of many communities.

There were also several minor wash-overs, with 3 more serious ones at the Pines, Robbins Rest and Corneille Estates. On the east end of the Pines, a river of ocean water came up through the vehicle cut and ran downhill toward the PSEG substation on the bay side. The two wash-overs on the west end of the island left 3 feet of water from ocean to bay in two places, delaying the school buses taking the mainland kids home at 3pm.

Speaking of wash-overs, several people posted on social media about the ocean overtopping the dunes, mistakenly using the term “breach.” While both terms describe ocean water flowing across the island, a wash-over is temporary and recedes as the storm passes. A breach cuts through the island and does not recede after the storm, usually deepening and widening if not repaired. Where the ocean washed to the bay last week, the waters receded on the next low tides, thus qualifying them as temporary wash-overs. (Note: On Fire Island, a breach in the developed areas would be immediately repaired, but it would be left open if it occurred in a major FINS tract. An example is the breach that occurred in the Wilderness area during Sandy, which was allowed to remain open.)

Assessing and Addressing the Damage
During and right after the storm, our emergency responders, local contractors, and year-round residents did a great job of getting out and around the communities to check homes and businesses, help anyone in distress, and take pictures and videos of the havoc wreaked up and down the island. In the following days, teams from the County and Towns were able to get on the island to assess the damage to infrastructure, especially on the ocean side. The day before the storm hit, Great Lakes Dredge and Dock Corporation had begun mobilizing for a long-delayed US Army Corps (USACE) project to repair damage on the west end (Kismet to Seaview) from winter storms back in 2020. The GL project team was also surprised by the ferocity of the storm, and had to go back out during the storm to secure project equipment on the Beach that was getting pounded by the rough surf. The west end repair project will continue this week with the dredge itself expected to arrive to start pumping sand on shore on December 29th.On the east end (Ocean Bay Park to Davis Park), the storm washed away huge amounts of sand from many areas of beach and berm that were already dramatically eroded. Adding to the sense of urgency about the condition of east end beaches, a NYS DEC and Suffolk County request to USACE for repair of east end damage from several recent storms was rejected by the Corps in the fall. That decision was appealed by the DEC, prompting the Corps to send the denied application to two other USACE districts with coastal experience (Philadelphia and Jacksonville, FL) for an independent review of the negative determination. The County is currently gathering post-storm beach measurements to submit with another repair application to USACE based on the strength of this storm and the severity of damage sustained.

Historic Role of the FIAThe FIA has been actively, relentlessly, and passionately advocating with government agencies and elected officials for Fire Island shoreline management, sand renourishment, and storm repair for the last 30 + years. Our successes include forming multiple community Erosion Control Districts in the early 90’s, using the ECDs to carry-out several FEMA repair projects in the years before Sandy, securing the FIMI rebuild of our beaches after Sandy, winning the 60 year battle to get the FIMP shoreline management project authorized 2 years ago, and successfully pushing for the current repair project for the west end. You can be sure that we are once again deeply involved in the current State, County, and East End community efforts to secure an expedited emergency repair project for our island’s East End.I hope this FIA UPDATE gives you a clearer picture of the scope of last week’s storm damage, and helps you understand the complex multi-agency process that keeps our fragile barrier island in a healthy state as we face the ever-increasing threats of climate change, sea level rise, and the increasing severity of powerful storms that come our way.Please support our efforts by joining FIA (see below). After working with and for Fire Islanders since 1955, we have all learned an important lesson—we’re most definitely better together!

With warm regards for a very Happy New Year!

Suzy Goldhirsch

President, Fire Island Association
















Fire Island fire chiefs: Washed-out beaches ‘ticking time bomb’ for first responders

Watch Now 2:11  https://tv.newsday.com/watch/long-island/towns/fire-island-officials-urging-action-to-repair-storm-damage-to-beaches-steve-mmj-bdfbmg04

‘The beach here is our roadway’

Fire Island officials push for repairs to storm-damaged beaches. NewsdayTV’s Steve Langford reports. Credit: Newsday/James Carbone; Photo Credit: Seaview Association Manager Larry Mattiasen

By Brianne Leddabrianne.ledda@newsday.comUpdated November 12, 2023 11:43 pm

The Fire Island Fire Chiefs Council is calling on lawmakers to immediately repair beaches damaged by September storms, describing conditions as a “ticking time bomb.”

Beach erosion in communities starting from Seaview, going east through the Pines to Davis Park, is preventing fire departments from traveling along the sand to provide mutual aid, said Joe Geiman, fire chief for the Fire Island Pines.

“I’ve been in the Pines Fire Department for 20 years and I have never seen it this bad,” he said. “I won’t permit any of my vehicles to drive on the beach unless it’s under emergency conditions.”

In a mid-October letter addressed to Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and copied to Rep. Andrew Garbarino (R-Bayport) and several Suffolk elected officials, the council, of which Geiman is a member, said a “series of violent storms” during the week of Sept. 29 caused “severe erosion” on eastern beaches, compromising safe passage. Emergency responders on the barrier island, which lacks paved roads, rely on beaches to travel between communities and provide aid. 

“Given our unique location, and vulnerability to extreme weather conditions during the winter months,” the chiefs’ letter said, “a poor or slow response has proven it can be the difference in preventing a major conflagration or adding one. Despite all our best planning our current condition finds us sitting on a potential ‘ticking time bomb.’ ”

Schumer in a prepared statement Sunday evening said: “The pictures prove the case: Fire Island has been hit hard by storm after storm and in many spots erosion is getting much worse. That is why I first sounded the alarm, asking the Army Corps to conduct emergency repair of dune and beaches. . . . I will continue to push the Corps to make needed repairs ASAP and to utilize the resources I have already secured for their agency to get this job done.”

Geiman said during the summer months, “we rely on other Fire Island departments for mutual aid in case of an emergency, but offseason, like it is now, it’s even more important because our communities are less populated at this time. We have fewer firefighters, we have fewer residents in town and it’s even harder to get up and down the beach.”

To circumvent a shortage of first responders and the difficult geography, fire departments across Fire Island work together to provide emergency services to nearly 5,000 homes, according to the letter.

Fire apparatus and support vehicles on Fire Island are equipped to drive on sand and travel between hamlets on the beaches, said Thomas Ruskin, president of the Seaview association.

“Our departments are very interdependent on each other for mutual aid,” Ruskin said. “If there was an emergency east of Ocean Bay Park, you can’t get down there except on the beach.”

Geiman said that because Fire Island communities aren’t as populated during the offseason — typically the months between Labor Day and Memorial Day — there are fewer emergency calls; but that time period is also when there tends to be bigger fires, because that’s when many residents work on their houses.

The Army Corps of Engineers is currently working on the federally funded $2.1 billion Fire Island Inlet to Montauk Point Project to reduce flood risk along its 83 miles of coastline. The Fire Island Inlet was dredged as part of the project, according to a spokesman for the Army Corps.

This month, the federal agency is inspecting areas from Ocean Bay Park to Davis Park on Fire Island for “any observable deficiencies that needs to be addressed,” an effort “aimed at discerning the present conditions and any forthcoming needs for periodic beach replenishment under the ongoing” Fire Island to Montauk Point Project,” said spokesman James D’Ambrosio.

“The Army Corps of Engineers, in conjunction with the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation and the U.S. Department of the Interior, is committed to mitigating erosion and flooding to all vulnerable areas of Fire Island and will leverage all resources at its disposal to do so,” D’Ambrosio said in a statement.

Requests for aid following the September storms on Fire Island were denied because federal law limits the Army Corps of Engineers to respond to damage caused by Category 3 hurricanes, he said.

“They did an analysis of water levels, waves, and duration and intensity, and those storms, they didn’t meet the minimum eligibility requirements,” D’Ambrosio said. “This is taxpayer money, so there’s checks and balances on it and this is what we have to work with.”

Geiman, however, maintained that repairing the beaches is “critical.”

“If there’s a fire in the offseason, there could be as little as three or four firefighters in town to fight a fire,” he said. “So if you have a windy, stormy day and you get a fire going, and we’re all wooden houses connected by wooden boardwalks, eventually everything in the town is going to burn.”

Ophelia Inflicts Major Damage to Parts of Fire Island

As you can see above, we have a difficult time ahead for our island, and it’s only October. Ophelia battered Fire Island’s east end more seriously than elsewhere, but island-wide we have great challenges facing us. This report is lengthy, but conditions warrant bringing you up-to-date and offering a look ahead. Tropical Storm Ophelia inflicted major damage on Fire Island beaches and dunes that were already eroded after Hurricane Lee passed by offshore. With five days of northeast winds and heavy swells over multiple high tide cycles, Ophelia hung around way too long and caused serious trouble. All communities were affected to some degree. Up and down the island, stretches of relatively minor damage alternate with swaths of severe berm and dune loss, sometimes even within the same community. This variation is primarily caused by gaps or ‘holes’ in the protective sand bar that sits right off shore. During a storm event, large waves typically break out on the bar and lose most of their destructive power. But holes in the bar can form and move along the island with the westward littoral drift, letting powerful waves roll all the way into shore causing ‘hot spots’ of severe erosion.

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