Saltaire Summery
Volume 49, Issue 3
By Hugh O’Brien

So, you come out here to leave America's cares behind? Hmmm...

Fire! Three times in the last nine months—twice within the past month—we've had house fires in Saltaire, a village which has traditionally witnessed such an event perhaps once every few years. The most recent such occurrence happened two weeks ago, easily the most serious of the three in terms of damage, when the rear of the Murphy home on Surf Walk suddenly burst into flame. Fortunately, a neighbor and a contractor working nearby both saw the smoke and phoned in the alarm; in spite of being short-staffed (mid-week in early June), the Saltaire Fire Co., invaluably aided by the larger Fair Harbor Fire Department as well as firefighters from Kismet, managed to get to the site quickly, save the house and contain the damage. It would be impossible to single out all those from the three departments who fought the fire for hours and brought it under control; suffice it to say that everyone on western Fire Island can count themselves blessed to have at their call so many trained, dedicated, hard-working people ready for just such emergencies.

We’ve Been Lucky
We've been especially lucky in that these three incidents have resulted in some structural damages, but not the loss of a single dwelling. The last two house fires in Saltaire (in 1996 and 1999) caused the loss of the buildings in which they originated (both were later rebuilt), not to mention the catastrophic fires of fall 2002, in Lonelyville and Kismet, which saw the loss of three houses in all, plus another three damaged. (Most importantly, of course, is that fact that in none of these instances was anyone killed or injured -- houses can be replaced.) The two other recent fires affected the Mayer house on Pacific last October, and the Corcoran house on Anchor last month. No common thread appears to run through these particular fires; one was apparently electrical in origin, the next started in a faultily designed fireplace; the most recent is as yet undetermined, but would appear to have still another cause. What these do point up is the absolute necessity of taking all possible safety precautions to minimize your risk of fire, first, and then to know what to do in case a fire should break out.
Which serves as a perfect segue into announcing that the new village information placards have at last really arrived, and are to be distributed to each household around town in the coming week. Pay particular attention to the updated information on the fire safety placard. It tells you what number to call (911), how to clearly and quickly report the location and nature of the emergency, and what to do for yourself and those in the house in such a case. Essentially, LEAVE the house immediately. Call in the fire quickly, from the house if possible, or using a cell or neighbor's phone, but make sure that everyone gets out and stays out. (Sounds like Tom Delay's immigration policy.) Have someone standing on the street -- crosswalks too – to direct firefighters to the correct address. And, everybody, please -- move completely aside, off the walks, when emergency vehicles are approaching. You'd be amazed how many people move little or not at all, lights, sirens and P.A. appeals notwithstanding, when they see a fire engine or ambulance coming. (Also, keep bikes, wagons and stuff off the walks; they can be dangerous impediments to pedestrians as well as other bike traffic, not to mention emergency vehicles, at all times.) But above all, get everybody out, and call it in, fast. Don't try to put the fire out yourself; you won't, and houses have in fact been lost because of the time lost in calling for trained assistance. At one of the recent fires the family phoned in the fire quickly, which was good; on the other hand, rather than evacuate the premises as both common sense and safety procedures would appear to make obvious, the family and their guests simply moved their meal out onto the deck and resumed dining. Cool enough about it, one must grant, but unwise just the same.

Rules & Regs
The other placards, by the bye, give detailed and revised info on evacuation procedures, refuse disposal, general information and, new to the list, a separate rules and regulations card, which contains, in prominent type atop the rest, the basic information pertaining to outdoor cooking regulations and safety requirements. Please display these placards in some handy place in your house, readily accessible, and be sure renters are made aware of what they contain. They have always proven valuable assets for any Saltaire home. (Not to mention attractive: imaginatively color-coded for ready reference. Sea blue, the Saltaire color, for general information; environmental green for Refuse; blood red for fire safety and emergencies; funereal black for evacuation procedures; and an unmentionably-adjectived brown -- chosen because it stays legible -- for Rules & Regs. This is nothing if not a creative administration.) A synopsis of the same stuff lies in the new directories, too.

The “Real” Press
As it happens, though, one of these conflagrations made the Real World Press, a mini-snippet in the Daily News a few weeks back about the Anchor Walk scene. To quote in full, with sidebars....”Barbara Corcoran gives a hot party. Twelve firefighters showed up at the real estate queen's Fire Island home after her fireplace started spewing smoke at a recent bash.” Okay, before proceeding, a few corrections: it was more like 40 firefighters (all three local departments responded); and the terms “party” and “bash” seem somewhat misplaced in describing an 8 a.m. family breakfast. There was also more than just smoke involved; you know, where there's smoke, there's yet another cliche. But to finish the item: “Friends said Corcoran, who was honored this week by the Educational Alliance, has 'put the “fire” back in Fire Island'”, a comment which, if nothing else, would seem to stand as unhappy testament to the paucity of creativity among Manhattan's elite. However, congratulations to Barbara on her well-deserved honor, and new and improved fireplace.

Late advice: check that your smoke detectors are working. Now! Go!

Cars! Martin Lorenz got some great photos of a school bus (actually a school-bus-like vehicle run by some religious organization) charging through Saltaire the other week. The driver had apparently dropped off his clientele at the Lighthouse and, seeking nourishment, had on someone's advice -- FINS's resident practical joker, no doubt -- driven down into Kismet, through the various Burma Roads, and on into the VOS in search of this fabled “deli” he'd been told about. This lark lasted until the bus reached East Walk, at which point the driver wisely chose to terminate his route as it became clear his vehicle wouldn't quite make that 90 degree turn into Fair Harbor. Now, this wasn't a mini-Fire-Island-type school bus of the kind Kevin Gillespie keeps running, or even a Sung Myung Moon van; this was a Nebraska rural school district maxi-behemoth thing, designed for maximum students and minimum mileage, almost too big for highways. Martin watched and shot (a camera) as the driver, with assistance, slowly backed from East to Beacon [see
“Walk East On Beacon”, Columbia, 1952, co-starring George Roy and Louisa
Hill, as a matter of fact, then grindingly and gruntingly maneuvered to turn direction -- with a few trepasses onto the Kahlers' lawn -- speaking of being shot with things -- and headed back west...where a Saltaire Security person stood, waiting. The rest, as they say, was penal history. Never did discover what deli he thought he was going to, nor what, indeed, he planned to order there.
Meanwhile, the village and fire company have been shopping around for new or replacement vehicles, utilizing as always the NYS bidding process, open to municipalities and their attendant divisions, wherein such governmental units can seek necessary vehicles at below-normal prices thanks to bargain bids obtained by state contracts. Of course, this limits one's universe of choice, as only two or three different models are ever on offer. This year, the superior pick seemed to be the Ford Explorer, which was fine until it came out last week that it can explode while sitting parked. Yeah. We'd ordered six of them for the Village fleet, but luckily the warehouse where they were being stored blew up before we took delivery so we were able to order different vehicles from a sounder outfit, like GM. A Chevy Tahoe. Just one, for the fire department. Hey, at least it wasn't a Blazer.

Mayor Scott reported Sunday on one item of keen interest to Saltaire commuters, namely, when is the Bay Shore parking lot going to be paved? (Granted, most persons making this inquiry don't actually say “Bay Shore”; rather more commonly, they employ a single word displaying the same gerund suffix as “parking”.) Well, the bad news is that the engineers say the ground should be allowed to settle from the recent bulkhead work for at least a...year. Yes, and sorry. The possibly hopeful news is that the Village is “looking into” something that might mitigate the dust and dirt from at least the area around the ferry loading platform. The Village looks into a lot of stuff. Don't know its success average. I'll have to look into that. We do have the outhouse back, though. Maybe a vending machine coming in, too; I have to look into th...okay, you get it.

Notes on upcoming summer frolics... Camp starts Tuesday, July
5, but there'll be field games that Monday, the 4th, and on Sat. the 2nd orientation for campers AND their parents will be held at the recreation house on Neptune at 10 a.m. -- all are welcome -- and encouraged – to attend. Please register your child (ren) for camp as soon as possible!
Forms at the village office. (The Library Program also starts that week; registration for its myriad activities, courtesy Kim Lincoln, is required this year, so similarly please register at the V.O. atop the V.H.). The SCAA's annual meeting will be held this Sunday morning, June 26, at 10 – probably in the Village Hall; maybe the firehouse; Clare Briody is checking on hall availability. It'll be somewhere in that vicinity, plenty of bike racks available too, or the post office steps, which will also be open by this week, as advertised. If you can, try to attend the Fire Island Association's own annual meeting, this Saturday, June 25, at 11 a.m. at the Community House in Ocean Beach.
It's believed there'll be a gratis ferry run to and from, so please check the ubiquitous bulletin boards for times and other information (or call ferries at 665-3600). Attendance at the FIA's annuals is not always what it should be; a lot of people, like Gerry Stoddard, Bob Spencer and many others, work long hours, year-round, for the welfare and security of this island, to often to too little credit or acknowledgement, and these meetings always feature good speakers and critical information worth knowing... so please make the trip. You won't be sorry, and there's always the added treat of a day in the big city of Ocean Beach, unless you already live there, in which case it's pretty much like any other day. Thanks to Natalie Rogers for her and her administration's generosity in supplying a venue (and for her work as well). (And no slights meant to all the unnamed FIAers!)

SYC!
Full-time beginning this Friday, with the first of the new season's barbecue nights; it will be interesting to see how turnouts go this summer, with Saltairians newly “liberated” (I think this was the quote) from their barbecue-less tyranny, able to ruin sleeves, napkinsand paper plates in the privacy of their own homes. Perhaps to guard against the prospect of sagging attendance, there'll be a do-it-yourself Sundae Stand, featuring Tommy's Own Down-Home Ice Milk and Frozen Vat 29s, complete with sprinkles, for your dessert pleasure. Various ice creams, syrups, toppings, etc. And you thought ketchup stains all over the floor were bad. Dinners start next night, I think -- if I'm wrong, revoke my chit book -- soon anyway; first kids' movie Tuesday 6/28, first classic movie Thursday, 6/30. The Club will be open daily except weekend days, Tuesday afternoons, Thursday afternoons, and Wednesdays, and for lunch every day but Saturday, Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. Reserve your space this weekend for the first big bash, in the non-Corocoran sense, the Fourth of July dinner, penciled in for Sunday the third. This will be good.

Reliable rumor has it that the fire company will at last hold its own cocktail reception – FREE! FREE! FREE! – on Saturday, July 2, from 5-7 p.m. Signs will keep you updated. Assuming it happens, drop by for some wine, beerm hors d'oeurves and a tour of the firehosue and its equipment and environs. A chance to get to know the department, what it does, and the people who do it to you, all whilst enjoying an unaccountably classy repast, and need I repeat -- I need! I need! -- at no charge, unlike that pancake business in September. More next week. Likewise on the G&G Bazaar, headed your way July 16.

Congratulations to Carol Scott and Dan Weinlandt, set to wed this September. Publishing congrat's to Tracey Zabar on the advent of her new book, “Charmed Bracelets”, now in stores. Trace has a second volume, on baby's names and meanings, coming out mid-summer; she voiced the hope, or expectation, that this would be something she need not ever worry about again. Got that David? No more charm bracelets for Tracey.

Sad Farewells
And some sad farewells to a few longtime Saltairians who are leaving the community after so many years, prodded perhaps by a strong real estate market to sell and begin a new chapter elsewhere. Ah, but is there really anywhere else? So long to Henry and Agate Mueller, and to Lenore Silver, both departing these shores for good after this weekend; and to Pete Lemay, who closes in October (but spends most of the summer in Paris). We're losing many of our mainstays, and I for one am very unhappy to see all these old friends go. Just wait till they come crawling back, begging forgiveness and reentry into Our Society. Of course, they'll get it, and probably a lifetime pass to the Saltaire Market or something. But this is not a happy time. You've been great neighbors and great friends and we'll miss you all. Fortunately, not everything is lost; Steven Lemay will continue to grace us out here with Cindy Brodkin, and the loss of another veteran Saltaire family, the Gills, was more than made up for by the purchase of their house by Anna Kovner and her husband, buying right next to the old homestead. The 'rents are positively thrilled. Positively.