WIFD on Irene: 'We Were Fortunate'

Despite several thousand power outages, there is some good news to report to the hamlet. 

The West Islip Fire Department said there were no Hurricane Irene-related injuries or fires to report.

"We were fortunate," said First Assistant Chief Steve Harvey.  "We had a lot of wires calls, EMS calls, trees down."   

Harvey said the department received a total of about 90 phone calls throughout the length of the storm. Some of which were from residents south of Montauk Highway that needed assistance. 

"We were evacuating some people south of Montauk with the GI [Government Issued] we have," Harvey said.  "Regular fire trucks couldn’t get down there, so we have one set up so we can get down there for any type of emergency."

He said the GI trucks are made to maneuver well in high water situations. 

He also noted that many of the calls were for downed wires.  And as of Thursday morning, LIPA reports that 63 percent of outages have been restored in West Islip.  But 1,960 homes are still without it and could possibly be looking at a Friday recovery.