FDNY holds Category 4 hurricane drill on Fire Island

Thursday, May 12, 2022

Members of the FDNY's Special Operations Command Task Force held a Category 4 hurricane drill on Fire Island Thursday.

FIRE ISLAND (WABC) -- Members of the FDNY's Special Operations Command Task Force held a Category 4 hurricane drill on Fire Island Thursday.

They simulated what they would do if the roadway into Fire Island from Robert Moses was flooded with water, how they would search local homes and how they would use canines to search for injured or missing people.

This FDNY task force is called in all over the country to assist after natural disasters.

"As we've seen with previous events that you'll have a hurricane or some other type of disaster and it overwhelms the resources of the local agency," FDNY Chief John Esposito said.

During the drill, they also simulated a mass injury response. Volunteers pretended to have injuries consistent with having been in a hurricane, like broken bones and cuts. They also simulated a MedEvac scenario.

Although only a few hundred people live on Fire Island year-round, the population swells during the summer, which also happens to be hurricane season, so drills like this one are important.

"I think it's great that they're going to know what they're doing and we're going to know what we're doing," Fire Island resident Jacquie Jones said of Thursday's drill.

Suffolk County response teams will perform a similar drill this weekend.

ALSO READ | Missing puppy rescued after running through Holland Tunnel